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2d EDITION. 



LETTER 



JAMES "GARLAND, 

TO HIS CONSTITUENTS. 




The Presidential question, fellow-citizens, having assumed a decided aspect, and 
there being but two candidates before the American People, for their suffrages at the 
ensuing election, Martin Van Buren and William Henry Harrison, it becomes the dutv 
of every citizen to choose between them. Having myself determined on the suppu 
of General Harrison, I feel it a duty which I owe to you, being your representative 
in Congress, to state the reasons on which that determination is founded. 

When I supported Mr. Van Buren for the Presidency at the last election, I did so 
under the firm conviction that he would administer the Government according to the 
strictest and most rigid principles of the republican faith ; arrest the systematic inva- 
sion of the rights of the States by federal authority ; check the usurpations and en- 
croachments of the Executive department ; introduce the most rigid system of econ- 
omy and simplicity into the expenditures and practices of the Government, and resist 
the enlargement of Executive power and patronage, by all the means in his power. — 
Mr. Van Buren's speeches and published opinions, although I did not concur Avith him 
in every thing, justified this opinion. In all this, fellow-citizens, I have been sadly de- 
ceived; and believing that his practices, since he ascended the Executive chair, have 
been at war with his previous professions, and that the system of policy and measures 
which he is now urging upon the country, will sap the foundations of our republican 
institutions, overthrow the liberty and destroy the prosperity of the country, and erect 
upon their ruins an inveterate and intolerable despotism, I feel it my duty to my coun- 
try and to you to oppose his re-election. 

I will now state the measures which Mr. Van Buren proposes, for the purpose of es- 
tablishing that policy which I regard so dangerous and fatal in its consequences, and 
briefly assign the reasons upon which I found my objections to them. The first Ls 

The Sub-Treasury Scheme. 

By this scheme it is proposed to place the actual and constant custody of the pub- 
lic moneys in the hands of subordinate agents of the Treasury, who by the Consti- 
tution will be a/y/»oj''?z?aZ^Ze by the President, and remoyafc/e at his will. That act of 
legislation which commits to the custody of these subordinate agents the public purse, 
indirectly, but effectually, places it Avithin the power of the President ; who will always 
have a key, in the constitutional power of removal, by Avhich to unlock the strongest 
vault. No pains or penalties which can be imposed, or bond and security exacted, 
can resist this constitutional power of removal, and secure the public treasure against 
the grasp of an aspiring and ambitious Chief Magistrate. When it is remembered 
that the President, by the Constitution, is commander-in-chief of the army and navy 
— wields the whole appointing power, and is the sorwreofall patronage, it cannot 
but be perceived that in addition to powers already fearful and dangerous, this system 
will add another — tb° control of the public purse — Avhich will make the Executive, in 
its power and influence omnipotent. Tl^se, fellow-citizens, are no phantoms of my 
imagination ; no inventions of my brain, to excuse or justify my abandonment of this 
Administration. They sprang from higher and more important sources ! Thef 
sprang from the republicans of 1798-'99, and from an able and truly patriotic report 
made in 1826, from a committee of the Senate of the United States of which Mr. 
"Van Buren himself was a member; directed against like principles and like dangers. 

This scheme will not only place the virtual custody of the public money in tlie hands 
of the President, but will add to the already overswollen number of the '■'■official 
horde''' a new6a^c7t,and add largely to the already immense and prodigal expenditures of 
the Government, The bill which the Executive committee of the House of Ftepre- 



2 U- ^ I 

sentatives has reported, proposes to add four principal officers, and appropriates about 
$40,000. The number of subordinate officers at the discretioM of the four principals. — 
This will be the beginning, but what will be the end none can with certainty predict ; 
but judging of the future by the past, I augur nothing preservative of our free insti- 
tutions, or beneficial to the people. 1 have no doubt there will be a rapid accumulation 
of both. 

In the address of the republican members of the Legislature of Virginia, which ac- 
companied the immortal report of 1798. It is said: 

'' If measures can mould Governments, and if an uncontrolled power of construc- 
tion, is surrendered to those who administer them, their progress may be easily fore- 
seen, and their end easily foretold. A lover of monarchy, who opens the treasures of 
corruption, by distributing emolument among devoted partisans, may at the same time 
be approaching his object, and deluding the people with professions of republicanism. 
He may confound monarchy and republicanism by the art of definition. He may var- 
nish over the dexterity which ambition never fails to display, with the pliancy, of lan- 
guage, the seduction of expediency, or the prejudices of the times. And he may 
come at length to avow, that so extensive a territory as that ot the United States, can 
only be governed by the energies of monarchy ; that it cannot be defended except by 
standing armies; and that it cannot be united, except by consolidation." 

The measures of the Administration of John Adams, which tended to these ends, 
and which aroused the jealous enthusiasm of the republicans of that day, to deter- 
mined and vigorous resistance, consisted, as they stated, 

" In FISCAL SYSTEMS and ARRANGEMENTS, which kcep an host of commercial and 
wealthy individuals embodied and obedient to the mandates of the Treasury. 

"In armies and navies, which will, on the one hand, enlist the tendency of man to 
pay homage to his fellow creature, who can feed or honor him ; and, on the other, em- 
ploy the principle of fear, by punishing imaginary insurrections, under the pretence of 
preventive justice. 

"In the swarms of oflScers, civil and military, who can inculcate political tenets, 
tending to consolidation and monarchy, both by indulgencies and severities, and can 
act as spies over the free exercise of human reason. 

"In restraining the freedom of the press, and investing the Executive with legisla- 
tive, executive, and judicial powers, over a numerous body of men. 

'' And, that we may shorten the catalogue, iu establishing, by successive precedents, 
such a mode of construing the constitution as will rapidly remove every restraint upon 
Federal power." 

If these objections against the Administration of John Adams, with its limited num- 
ber of public' officers, small amount of public expenditure, and proposed regular army 
were just, how much more strongly do they apply to the present Administration, with 
its swarm of office-holders, immense amount of expenditure, army, and proposed or- 
ganization of an active militia force, general consolidating measures? If this state of 
things be laaturely considered, we can in truth say, in the language of that address, 
" Let history be consulted ; let the man of experience reflect; nay, let the artijicers of 
monarchy be asked, what further materials they can need for building up their favo- 
rite system." 

In the report of Mr. Benton m 1826, Irom the committee on Executive Patronage, 
of which Mr. Van Buren was a member, the sources and influence of executive pa- 
tronage are thus described : 

"To be able to show to the Senate a full and perfect view of the power and work- 
ings of Federal patronage, the committee addressed a note, immediately after they 
were charged with this inquiry, to each of the Departments, and to the Postmaster 
General, requesting to be informed of the whole number of persons employed, and the 
whole amount of money paid out, under the direction of their respective Departments. 
The answers received are hereunto submitted, and made part of this report. With 
the Blue Book, they Avill discover enough to show that the predictions of those who 
were not blind to the defects of the constitution are ready to be realized ; that the 
power and infixience of federal patronage, contrary to the argument in the ' Fede- 
ralist,'' is an overmatch for the power and influence oj State patronage ; that its 
workings wiU contaminate the purity of all elections, and enable the Federal Govern- 
ment, eventually to govern throughout the States, as effectually as if they were s-^ 
many provinces of one vast empire." 



Its concentration and effects in the hands of the President, are thus most admirably 
and accurately drawn: 

" The whole of this great power will centre in the President. The King of Eng- 
land is the ' fountain of honor ;' the President of the United States is the source of 
patronage. He presides over the entire system of federal appointments, jobs, and 
contracts. He has ' power' over support of the individuals who administer the system. 
He makes and unmakes them. He chooses from the circle of his friends and sup- 
porters, and may dismiss them, and upon all the principles of human actions will dis- 
miss them, as often as they disappoint his expectations. His spirit will aniniate their 
actions in all the elections to State and federal offices. There may be exceptions ; but 
the truth of a general rule is proved by the exception. The intended check and con- 
trol of the Senate, without new constitutional or statutory provisions, will cease to 
operate. Patronage will penetrate this body, subdue its capacity of resistance, chaia 
it to the car of power, and enable the President to rule as easily, and much more 
securely, with than without the nominal check of the Senate. If the President was 
himself the officer of the people, elected by them, and responsible to them, there would 
be less danger from this concentration of all power in his hands ; but it is the business 
of statesmen, to act upon things as they are, not as they would wish them to be. — 
We must then look forward to the time when the public revenue will be doubled ; when 
the civil and military officers of the Federal Government will be quadrupled ; Avhen 
its influence over individuals will be multiplied to an indefinite extent ;^when the no- 
mination of the President can carry any man tlirsugh the Senate, and his recommen- 
dation can carry any measure through the two Houses of Congress ; when the prin- 
ciple of public action will be open and avowed — the President wants my vote, and I 
want his patronage ; I Avill vote as he wishes, and he will give me the office I wish 
for. What will this be but the government of one man? and what is the government 
of one man but a monarchy ? Names are nothing. The nature of a thing is in its 
substance, and the name soon accommodates itself to the substance." 

In another part of this report it is said : 

" The power of patronage, unless checked by the vigorous interposition of Congress, 
must go on increasing, until Federal influence in many parts of this confederation, 
Avill predominate in elections as completely as British influence predominates in rotten 
boroughs and towns, and in the great naval stations of Portsmouth and Plymouth. In 
no part of the practical operations of the Federal Government has the predictions of 
its ablest advocates been more completely falsified, than in this subject of patronage." 

Again : this report, for the purpose of showing what had been and what would be 
he increase of executive power and patronage, says : 

" The patronage of the Federal Government, at the beginning, was founded upon a 
revenue of two millions of dollars. It is now operating upon twenty-two millions, 
and within the life time of many now living, must operate upon fifty. The whole 

REVENUE MUST, IN A PEW YEARS, BE wholly APPLICABLE TO SUBJECTS OF PATRONAGE. At 

present, about one-half, say ten millions of it, are appropriated to the principal and 
interest of the public debt ; which, from the nature of the object, involves but little 
patronage. In the course of a few 'years, this debt, without great mismanagement, 
must be paid off. A short period of peace, and a faithful application of the sinking 
fund, must speedily accomplish that most desirable object. Unless the revenue be 
then reduced, a work as difficult m republics as in monarchies, the patronage of the 
Federal Government, great as it already is, must, in-the lapse of a few years, receive 
a vast accession of strength. The revenue itself will be doubled, and instead of one- 
half being applicable to the objects of patronage, the whole will take that direction. 
Thus, the reduction of the public debt, and the increase of pubUc revenue, will multi- 
ply in 9. fourfold degree, the number of persons in the service of the Federal Go- 
vernment, the quantity of public money in their hands, and the number of objects to 
which it is applicable ; but as each person employed will have a circle of greater 
or less diameter, of which he is the centre and the soul, — a circle composed of friends 
and relations, and individuals, employed by himself on public or on private account — 

THE actual increase OF FeDERAL POWER AND PATRONAGE BY THE DUPLICATION OF THE 
REVENUE, WILL BE NOT IN THE ARITHMETICAL RATIO, BUT IN GEOMETRICAL PROGRESSION — 
AN INCREASE ALMOST BEYOND THE POWER OF THE MIND TO CALCULATE OR TO COMPRE- 
HEND." 

If these gentlemen were sincere in these expositions and sentiments, and that they 



were, I do not doubt, what a fearful ar^ay of present and appalling picture oi future 
danger from the swelling tide of executive power and patronage do they present. — 
These gentlemen then thought that there was no other way of avoiding the rum of 
our institutions and the destruction of our liberties, than diminishing this immense 
mass of executive patronage. Hear them : 

" In coming to the conclusion that Executive patronage ought to be diminished and 
REGULATED On the plan proposed, the committee rest their opinion on the ground that 
the exercise of great patronage in the hands ot one man, has a constant tendency to 
sully the purity of our institutions, and to endanger the liberties of the country." 

Now, fellow- citizens, all the causes of danger and alarm which existed in 1826, are 
in full operation, and the predicted increase of officers and pubHc revenue more than 
realized. And yet this republican President is proposing a scheme Avhich not only 
adds a new batch of public officers, and a new item of expenditure to the present list, 
but which will place in his actual control the whole revenue of the nation. What 
more, can poAver desire, to do its works of ambition or oppression? 

But, fellow-citizens, I will offer you further evidence of the enormity of this scheme, 
from its present advocates. When Mr. Leigh, in a public speech at Petersburgh, in 
Virginia, in 1834, suggested, with the utmost accuracy, the outlines of this scheme. 
The ''Globe" then, as now, the £^.t'ec?^f?"fe_/J?'ess at Washington, broke out upon it 
in strains of the most rabid fury, and denounced it, not only as dangerous in the ex- 
treme, but unconstitutional. Just hear it: 

"This is the notable planbyAvhich Senator Leigh \\o\Adi diminish the power of the 
Executive over the depositories of public money ! Instead of suffering the President 
to appoint one Treasurer, as he does now, he would have him ' appoint as many as 
should be convenient.' Or if the appointment were taken out of the hands of the 
President, Avith the concurrence of the Senators, it must be vested in the head of the 
Treasury Department, to be made without their concurrence. And when appointed, 
these officers must necessarily be, as all other Executive officers now are, subject to 
removal at the will of the President, Mr. Leigh attacks the Constitution itself, when 
he controverts these positions, as we shall hereafter show. And these Treasurers, all 
appointed by the President, and removable at his will, with all the public money in their 
actual possession — in their pockets, desks, trunks, and vaults — are, in the opinion of 
Mr. Leigh, the constitutional depositories of the public moneys, in preference to the 
State banks, which guard the public treasure as they do their own, over uhich the 
President has no control, and to one Treasurer, who instead of having the money in 
his actual possession, cannot possibly get a dollar of it into his hands, for any other 
purpose than to pay his own salary and ordinary office expenses. It is fortunate for 
General Jackson that he does not entertain Mr. Leigh'' s opinions. If he had sug- 
gested such a system, what peals of patriotic indignation would have burst from elo- 
quent Senators against the usurper and tyrant, who desired to get the millions of the 
Treasury into the very hands of his partisans and parasites !" 

I do not quote the '' Globe," because there is any value in its authority, or respect 
due to its opinions; I quote it as the known organ of the Sub-treasury party, and as 
embodying their sentiments upon this subject. It was fortunate for General Jackson, 
quoth this veritable journal, in 1834, that he did not entertain Mr. Leigh's opinions, 
for the very suggestion of such a system, would have drawn upon him '^ peals of pa- 
triotic indignation''^ as a '■'■usiirper and tyrant who desired, to get the millions of the 
Treasury into the very hands oi' his partisans and parasites. But it is very fortu- 
nate for Mr. Van Buren that he does, in 1840, entertain tht- se very opinions, and has 
not only suggested the '•'■system''^ but pressed it Avith a pertinacity and a recklessness 
rarely equalled in the annals of the Government. Where are the "peals of patriotic 
indignation" which the suggestion of this scheme of usurpation and tyranny Avould 
have invoked upon the head of General Jackson? '■^Presto qitick,^'' changed into 
honeyed adtdation and nursling lullabies to Martin Van Buren. This, according 
to some of our modern " Jim Crow^^ political philosophers is consistency ! 

But, tellow-citizens, I Avill turn from the testimony of the " Executive press" at Wash- 
ington, to the testimony of its primary satellite at Richmond, the " faithful Abdiel of 
the Enquirer" — he Avhose Avhole political career has been so remarkable for its purity, 
disinterestedness, fidelity, and consistency. What says this press about this notable 
scheme ? In 1834, speaking of Mr. Leigh's scheme, the editor said: 

♦' As to the letter of Mr. Leigh it may satisfy his tAventy-six friends ; but it certainly 
^oes not satisfy us. The letter Avhich they have called forth, should call forth, in its 



turn, another letter to explain the true meaning of that passage' which speaks of di- 
vorcing all connexion with banks, State or Federal. Do you mean (they might say) 
that the public money is to be left in ihe hands of the custom-house officers, responsi- 
ble to the President and removal by him? If so, is Mr. Leigh prepared to incur the 
irresistible objections urged hy the "Globe," and to increase in so alarming a degree 
the patronage,power and injiuence of the Executive?" 

This is what Mr. Van Buren means; and this will be the inevitable effects of the 
adoption of his proposed scheme. 

The editor of the ''Enquirer" did not become passive as soon as the editor of the 
''Globe" took its position ; and when he found such a large mass of the Democratic 
Repubhcan party going in favor of this scheme, in his paper of the 8th of September, 
1837, he pours out the following Jeremiad: "How is it thatthegreat mass of the two 
parties seem to be respectively .?7i//i/no- the grounds they occupied in '34 ?" \.\\g friends 
of the Administration violently assailed it ; most of the Republicans, with the Pre- 
sident at their head, are inclined to support it. A better soldier than ourselves then 
gave forth the most serious objections to the scheme." Here the editor of the " En- 
quirer" makes a precious confession. He admits that the Republicans with the Pre- 
sident at their head, have changed sides ; and yet, with reckless effrontery, he charges 
as traitors and apostates all those Republicans who stood firm in their opposition, and 
refused to change with him; thus, too, in the teeth of his own weighty and impregna- 
ble objections. 

In his paper of the 5th of September, 1837, the editor calls it a '' wiVcZ and dange- 
rous scheme, establishing two sorts of currency — the better for the ofhcers of Govern- 
ment — the baser one for the People." 

In his paper of the ^20th October, 1837, he says, this '' notable scheme''' "tvill en- 
large tht Executive power already too great for a republic." 

I might multiply these extracts almost indefinitely, but these, with the endorsement 
that those which I have quoted from the Globe, are irresistible, are sufficient, in all 
conscience. 

What, fellow-citizens, is the substance of these objections ? Why, that this '■'■nota- 
ble scheme'"' will so mcj^ea.se the power, enlarge the patronage, and extend the influ- 
ence of the Executive department, as to ride over all the other departments, overcome 
the rights of the States, sap the foundations of liberty, and rise into monarchy. Yes, 
these are the objections of the "Richmond Enquirer," and with these objections upon 
the lips of its editor, he is pursuing with ffi'e and sword, the very men who, agreeing 
with him to the full extent of these objections, and unwilling to incur these dangers to 
their country, have adopted the only mode of successfully avoiding them — opposition 
to Mr. Van Ruren's re-election. For such conduct, coming from such a source, faithful 
history will visit upon the head of its guilty author, that measure of scorn and indig- 
nation which such treachery to the safety and true interests of the country justly me- 
rits ; and Avill single out, in a blaze of truth not to be obscured, who the '■'reaV apos- 
tate is ! 

As a further and most conclusive proof of the unanimity with which these objec- 
tions to this "notable scheme" were entertained by the Administration party, it is pro- 
per to remark, that when it was first proposed in the House of Representatives by my 
immediate predecessor, it was most rudely and unceremoniously strangled in its birth, 
and almost denied the rights of decent interment. Not a single member of the Admi- 
nistration party, save Colonel Beale of Virginia, dared to vote for it, nor did a single 
press, supporting the Administration, sustain it. The lightnings of their "patriotic 
indignation" flashed upon it in successive streams, and the thunders of their denuncia- 
tion poured upon it in their loudest peals ; and to all human appearance it was dead, 
dead, dead. Yet, strange to tell, by the magic power of that political '■^ galvanisin''^ 
which has been recently practised with so much skill and success, this very ^'■notable 
scheme''^ hns been resuscitated into life, animated with a new and a purer soul, and is 
rapidly rising into the vigor of manhood, not as the "babe of Bethlehem" to do good, 
but as the dragon of destruction to do mischief 

Now, fellow-citizens, whatever the banks may have done, hoAvever unworthy of con- 
fidence they may have rendered themselves, this does not diminish one single objec- 
tion to the Sub -Treasury scheme. They remain unchanged and unaltered. 

Another ground of objection to this notable scheme is, that it will endanger the safety 
of the public money. It Avould seem to me, fellow-citizens, that facts alone were suf- 



ficient to sustain the truth of this objection. The amount of losses by individual and 
bank agency, stand thus: 

Individual agency— by disbursing agents ----- $4,250,000 
By collectors and receivers, to October, 1835 - - - . 2,178^022 

Tt T, 1 A ■ ■ u $6,438,022 

JtJy tJanks, as depositories, about ----..- 750,000 



Excess of loss by individual over bank agency - - - . $5,678,022 

To this may be added about $300,000 for individual defalcations since October, 1837, 
and deducted about $700,000 collected or secured, leaving a net balance of $5,278,022 
in favor of bank depositories. These are the simple amounts as gathered from the 
Treasury reports, unfalsified and unsophisticated by the modern system of magnify- 
ing and diminishing arithmetical rhetoric. 

In reference to this subject, I find in the last annual message of the President the 
following deceptive and delusive statement, into which he was evidently led by the 
one-sided report of the Secretary of the Treasury; not by a misstatement of fact, but 
■ by a suppression of fact— a suppression which leads to a false conclusion. The mes- 
sage says : 

" The general results, (independent of the Post Office, which is kept separately, and 
will be stated by itself,) so far as they bear upon this subject, are, that the losses which 
have been and are likely to be sustained, by any class of agents, have been the greatest 
by banks, including, as required in the resolution, their depreciated paper received for 
public dues ; that the next largest have been by disbursing officers, and the least by col- 
lectors and receivers." 

In opposition to this statement of the message, I place the following extract from the 
report of the Secretary of the Treasury, made in reference to this identical question in 
1834. It is: 

"It is gratifying to reflect, however, that the credit given by the Government,, 
"whether to bank paper or bank agents, has been accompanied by smaller losses in 
the experience under the system of State banks, in this country at their worst periods 
and under their severest calamities, than any other kind of credit the Government 
has ever given in relation to its pecuniary transactions. Hence, unless the States and 
the United States should both deem it proper, gradually, and in the end entirely, to dis- 
pense with the paper system, and which event is not anticipated, the Government 
cannot escape occasional losses from that quarter, and can never hope to escape all 
Josses from banks as fiscal agents, except by the employment in their place of other 
and individual agents, who will probably be found less responsible, safe, convenient, 
and economical.'''' 

And, as a most conclusive and triumphant refutation of it, I quote the following ex- 
tract of a letter from General .Tackson to William J. Duane, late Secretary of the Trea- 
sury, dated Boston, June 26, 1833: 

" It is unjust to the State banks" (says he) ''to attribute to them the embarrass- 
ments of the Government and country, which led to the suspension of specie pay- 
ments, and a depreciated paper currency ; all those evils are attributable to other causes. 

''In consequence of combinations among men of wealth, opposed to the war, the 
requisite loans of money could not be procured — disasters overtook our arms, for the 
want of necessary supplies of funds; and others were threatened. If patriotism ever 
actuated banks, it was felt in the operations of many of the local banks at that gloomy 
period. At the hazard of their existence, they furnished the means of raising ar- 
inies and maintaining them in the field ; and it was in their efforts to sustain the Go- 
vernment that they so far crippled themselves as to be obliged to suspend the pay- 
ment of specie. If the Bank of the United States had then existed, it must have 
done as the State banks did, or it would have effected nothing in support of the Go- 
vernment. If it had not joined the combination against the Government, it could not 
have furnished the funds which the exigences of the country required, without sus- 
pending the payment of specie. Instead of ho=;tility and persecution, the Government 
• owed the State banks gratitude and support. Their credit during the whole war 
■was as good as its own; and without their aid. the Treasury must have stopped pay- 
jraent." 



I might further quote from this celebrated correspondence, but it is unnecessary, as 
this of itself is sufficient to establish the truth of my assertion. 

Now what is the whole case? Why, the Government being engaged in an arduous 
and bloody war with one of the most powerful nations on earth, had no money of its 
own, nor sufficient credit to obtain it. It tried Treasury notes ; but they depreciated to 
so great an extent that they had become unavailable. In this extremity the Banks 
rushed to the aid of the Government, and so expanded their issues as to compel them 
to resort to a suspension. With this suspension hanging over them like a mass of dense 
clouds, their notes were worth more, and were more available to the Government than 
Its own notes. In proof of this I cite the following testimony of James Monroe, late 
President of the United States: 

•'• I well remember, however, that when I was called by the President to the Depart- 
ment of War, on the 31st of August, 1814, the certificates of the Treasury were selling 
at $80 in the $100, by which $20 were lost. It was evident that if a reliance was pla- 
ced on the sale of the certificates only, a still further decline would ensue, and that the 
worst consequences might be apprehended. The country was invaded through the 
Avhole inland and maratime frontiers, and powerful squadrons were at the mouth of 
every bay and river leading to our principal cities, which were threatened with attack 
and ruin. The Metropolis of our Union had been forced, and our public buildings 
destroyed. Such was the State of the country and the funds, when I entered 
the Department of War. Under such circumstances an appeal was made to 
the patriotism and interest of the cities, and the Banks within them, by the 
Department of War, with the sanction of the President, for loans of money, neces- 
sary for their own defence, for that of the maratime frontier, and the Union. For the 
first loan that Avas obtained, one million of dollars from the City of INcw York, which 
took place in a few days after I entered the Department, no price Avas fixed. As Trea- 
sury notes were selling /or $80 in the $100, that was claimed, but not acceded to. It 
was left for subsequent adjustment to be settled on fair principles. Several millions of 
dollars were obtained from the District of Columbia, and principal cities throughout 
the Union, and, according to my recollection, at par." 

Thus, that which is now seized hold of to charge as a loss to the Government, by the 
use of depreciated bank notes, was in reality a saving; because if the Government had 
used its own notes, they were more depreciated and less avaihng than bank notes. 
Why is it that the accurate investigation and lynxey ed sagacity of the Secretary of the 
Treasury did not discover this immense and notable loss to the Government by the use 
of depreciated bank paper, Avhen he made his celebrated report in 1834, when the 
whole truth was important ? Why is it that he could then ascribe this bank deprecia- 
tion to the calamities of war^ but now, by innuendo at least, to the curses of the 
banking system? The object to be effected now is the reverse of what it was then. 
That's all.' 

The loss of $750,000 which I have stated, accrued to the Government from bank 
depositories, arose entirely from those failures which were produced by the operations 
of the war, and the exertions of the banks to aid the Government. Since that time, 
not one dollar has been lost. Of the $28,000,000 on deposite in the banks in 1837, eve- 
ry cent has been paid but $805,000 ; and that is well secured. What becomes, then, of 
all the predictions of immense losses to the Government by the insolvency of the 
banks ? — all vanished into thin air— all falsified. 

The reliance upon fine and imprisonment, and bond, and security, for the safety of 
the public money in the hands of individual agents, is too uncertain to be trusted. Hu- 
man nature is so frail, and the seductions of temptation so strong, that I have no faith 
in these means of security. We have had too many melancholy proofs of their insuf- 
ficiency immediately under our own eyes, and I have no wish to see them multiplied. 
I agree in sentiment with the judge of whom the poet says: 

" He sent the thief who stole the gold away, 
And punished him who put it in his way." 

I believe the Government is only adding to the cause of demoralization which now so 
extensively prevails in the country, by opening so many new sources of temptation to 
poor frail human nature, as this system will do. I believe that demoralization and de- 
falcation will only be increased, and that what has been the history of the past, will 
only be confirmed by that of the future. 



The advocates of the Sub-Treasury scheme, for the purpose of exciting public pre- 
judices against the banking institutions of the country, and through that instrumenta- 
lity, securing the adoption of their pe^ scheme, have uniformly ascribed the severe re- 
vulsion which overtook the country, in 1837, to the overaction of the banks. A few- 
simple facts will falsify this charge. Gen. Jackson was inaugurated 4th of March, 1829. 
On the 1st of January, 1830, there were 330 State banks with a capital of $145,192,208, 
and a circulation of $61,323,808. In 1832, General Jackson vetoed the Bar>k of the 
United States, and earnestly recommended the use of the State banks as fiscal agents. 
The policy of Gen. Jackson was to use the State Banks as auxiliaries in his operations 
against the Bank of the United States; and in September, 1833, he withdrew the de- 
posites from that institution, and employed the State banks as public depositories. He 
also, for the purpose of avoiding the distress which the withdrawal of the circulation 
of that bank would produce, and the speedy collections of its loans, urged upon the State 
banks to expand their circulation. On the 1st of January, 1835, under the influence 
of this policy, the number of State banks had increased to 558, with a capital of $331,- 
250,337, and a circulation of $103,692,495. Through the years 1835 and 1S36, this 
system was in the full tide of successful experiment; and accordingly we find that fan 
the first of January, 1837, the number of banks had increased to 709, with a capital of 
$440,195,710, and a circulation of $149,185,890. The increase of banks, banking capi- 
tal, find banking circulation, during General Jackson's administration, certainly grew 
out of the policy of the Government in relation to the Bank of the United States. It 
was greatly stimulated, too, by the rapid increase of surplus revenue during the years 
1834— '35— '36, which on the first of January, 1837, amounted to the enormous sum of 
$42,000,000, which the banks were authorized to discount upon, under the flattering 
prospect that it would not be speedily called for; the prices of our staple commodities, 
about this time, particularly cotton, which constitutes the larger portion of domestic ex- 
ports, began to rise, and gave a new impulse to the spirit of speculation, and enterprise 
which acted and re-ected upon the banks and speculation, until all overacted themselves, 
and produced the revulsion which followed. That revulsion so disastrous to the com- 
merce and agriculture of the country, swept over all interests, and seriously affected the 
banks. The overtrade in foreign productions left an immense foreign debt hanging 
over us ; and the rapid and immense fall in the prices of cotton and other productions, 
rendered a resort to some other resource for payment necessary. This resource was 
specie. This heavy foreign demand for specie, the deposite act of 1836 distributing 
the $40,000,000 of surplus revenue divided among the States, its injudicious execution, 
the embarrassments of the country, and the alarm of depositors, produced a sudden rush 
upon the banks for specie, Avhich left them no alternative but to suspend or add hopeless 
ruin to the embarrassments which had overtaken the people and themselves. They ■ 
wisely resolved upon suspension, for which the Government changed its policy, with 
drew its confidence, and thereby added to the protraction of the suspension, and increa- 
sed the prevailing embarrassments. In 1838, specie payments were generally but pre- 
maturely resumed. In 1S39, growing out of this premature resumption, aided by the 
injudicious speculation of the Bank of the United States, in the great staple of the 
country, and its consequent losses a partial suspension took place. Of the 959 banks in the 
United States, in 1839, 343 suspended entirely since: 62 suspended in part; 498 contin- 
ued payments in specie, and 56 broke or discontinued. Of those that suspended, 48 have 
resumed, and the balance Avill resume, I have no doubt, in the course of this year, unless 
the policy of the Government prevents it. When Ave consider the extent of the revul- 
sion, the immense losses which have been sustained, it is matter of surprise that all but 
56 of these numerous institutions have weathered the storm, and will be so promptly 
ready to resume their business. Of the suspension of 1839, the President thus speaks 
in his late message: 

A large and highly respectable portion of our banking institutions are, it affords me 
unfeigned pleasure to state, exempted from all blame on account of this second delin- 
quency. They have, to their great credit, not only continued to meet their engage- 
ments, but have even repudiated the grounds of suspension now resorted to. It is only 
by such a course that the confidence and good will of the community can be preserved, 
and, in the sequel, the best interests of the institutions themselves promoted." 

Another, and to my mind irresistible, argument against this notable scheme is, that 
it restricts the receipts of the public revenue to '• gold and silver only.'''' I regard this 
as not only impracticable, but not desirable, and that it would, in its effects, curtail our 
expanded and expanding commerce; reduce the demand for, and consequently th' 
value of, our domestic productions; reduce the demand for, and consequently the pricf 



of, labor ; and reduce, to an enormous and ruinous extent, the value of property. The 
prices of produce are always regulated by the foreign market and foreign demand ; and 
the value of property very much by the quantity of circulating medium. The present 
estimated amount of specie in the country, is about $65,000,000; an amount totally 
inadequate to all the purposes of our foreign and immense domestic trade. How is 
this amount to be increased to the demands ot trade and business ? Can it be done 
from the mints? These costly establishments add but about two and a half millions 
a year to the specie circulation, and most of that is consumed in plate and other 
articles. Their increase will not keep pace with the annual increase of our regular 
trade. Will it be supplied from foreign countries ? If it is, we must reverse our 
Avhole system, by exporting more and importing less ; which to an extent necessary, 
as the advantages of trade between nations, like individuals, must be reciprocal, may 
hazard nearly our whole foreign trade. I will test the probabilities of this foreign sup- 
ply, by that standard which is most favorable to my opponents. I take the imports 
and exports of gold and silver for the years 1832-'33-'34-,'35-'36-'37 and '38. In these 
seven years, the imports of gold and silver were $85,685,363, and the exports but 
$30,631,205, leaving an excess of imports over exports of $55,685,150. How has 
this benefitted the country ? During the same seven years, the imports of mer-^ 
^handise exceeded the exports $117,380,212, and thus this excess of importation of 
specie over the exportation, added to the excess of importation, has saddled the coun- 
try with a foreign debt of $172,434,369, which is to be paid. This, under the ordinary 
state of trade, must even strip us of our specie : during the year 1839, $9,000,000 of 
stock was exported. From 1821 to 1831, inclusive, when the currency and trade 
of the country was much more regular and steady, the exports of specie exceeded the 
imports t;3,497,001. Yet the condition of all classes of the country was generally 
more prosperous. If this be the result of increasing the specie circulation of the 
country by foreign importation, no man in his senses would desire to see it continued ; 
for ultimately it would overwhelm us. The only alternative, then, for the exclusive 
gold and silver system, is to reduce trade, labor, and commerce to the present specie 
standard, and the slow operation of the mints. Such a system may work Avell for the 
Shylocks of the day, by building up American Rothschilds and Barings, but will work 
ruin to the property-holding and debtor class. 

It has been urged by the authors of the Sub-treasury scheme, that its operation is to 
be confined solely to the keeping safely of the public money, and that the Federal 
Government, as it has nopowerover the business and commerce of the country, should 
pay no regard to its influence, good or bad, upon these ; but Avhen the scheme is pre- 
sented to the people's acceptance, we find it uniformily accompanied with recommen- 
dations of its salutary influence upon the trade of the country ; and thus we have the 
admission, indirectly, that the management of the public revenue, is to be made sub- 
servient to the uses of trade, and the preservation of a good currency. It is contended 
by those in high power, that this scheme, by reducing the amount of banking, will 
have a tendency to bring us near a metallic currency ; Avhich last, it is said, if in use 
would prevent speculation and restrain credit. If this hypothesis Avere true, then it 
would follow, that failures in business, and fluctuations in prices, never occurred in 
countries, where the currency was purely metallic. Is this made good by history 7 So 
far from it, that the most ruinous fluctuations in prices have occurred in times and 
places, where paper currency was unknoAvn. Take, for example, the folloAving, from 
"Jacob's Inquiry into the production and consumption of the precious metals." In^ 
England, in the 12th centurv, the price of Avheat varied from 2s. a quarter (money ot 
that time) to 18s. and 8d. In the 13th century it varied from Is. and 6d. ; in 1213, to 
£1 4s. ; in 1257, 1258, it rose to £2 ; in 1270 it rose to £4 16s. ; and sometimes sold at 
£6 8s. ; in 1288 it fell to Is. and 6d. ; in 1317 it sold at £2 4s. before harvest, and im- 
mediately after harvest 14s. In those days there Avere neither banks nor bankers in 
England, except the persecuted Jcavs, Avho were merely lenders of coin. And now 
let us see Avhether failures in trade, arising from stimulated credit, are prevented by 
metallic currency. There is a Avell known example in the city of Hamburgh, which, 
for three years about the close of the last century, oAving to the conquests of Napoleon, 
enjoyed a great monopoly in the importation of British and American commodities 
for the consumption of the German States and other countries in that quarter of the 
Avorld. The stimulus given to business in that city during the period stated above, in. 
the space of three years, raised prices to such a height, and so facilitated credit, that 
in the space of three months, in the year 1799, eighty houses in that city failed for an 
.aggregate sum of $12,000,000. This instance, so frequently quoted, that it has ob- 



10 7 

tained the character of universally accredited history, occurred in a country where no 
other than metallic currency was known, and is an eminent example of the truth, that 
credit and indiscreet speculation are not exclusively the offspring of banks and paper 
money. Instances parallel with those I have quoted, and tending to the same point in 
this question, abound in the history of former times, and even in recent days, in 
countries where neither banks nor bank paper exist ; but the limits of this address do 
not admit of further comment on the subject. 

It has been often asserted that this Sub-treasury scheme contains the germ of a 
great national bank, which will, in time, be the sole depository of the coin, and the 
maker of all the bank paper, which is to constitute the currency of the country ; and 
this, it is not difficult to see, will, in a certain contingency, spring up under the all- 
controlhng law of stern necessity. The demand for coin, it is said, to supply this 
scheme, will in good times, not exceed, at any given period, more than $5,000,000, 
although the amount of revenue paid in coin, in the course of any given year, will be 
equal to about $20,000,000. The first sum, it is said, will be the maximum withdrawn 
irom circulation constantly, as the disbursement of the revenue will, in prosperous 
times, when the banks are in good credit, find its way again to their vaults. It will be 
seen at once that this cannot be the case in times of commercial distress, Avhen a de- 
mand for coin, to pay foreign debts, is draining the banks, and thus diminishing their 
credit. When this last case occurs, as it must frequently, owing to the unstable prices 
in Europe of cotton, (the great export of the United States,) then the money dis- 
bursed by the Government v/ill be hoarded by individuals, and never reach the vaults 
of the banks; and hence, in a time of such pressure, we may safely calculate that the 
banks must sustain an abstraction from their coin, in a single year, of $20,000,000, 
which will be hoarded and withdrawn from business ; and this through the agency of 
the Treasury alone. To what result this will conduct us it is easy to see. The banks 
thus oppressed and scourged by the action of the Government, and the foreign de- 
mand for coin, will, in the end find the employment of capital in banking unproifitable, 
and close their business. The foreign demand for coin, at such a crisis, will drain the 
country of the precious metals, and then will come that intense suffering of the people 
which, in this as in every other country, looks only to relief from oppression too in- 
tolerable to be borne : then the wild cry of a whole people will come up to this Govern- 
ment for relief; then the State banks will no longer exist, and much of the coin of the 
country will have gone abroad to pay a foreign debt, and what remains will be held by 
the Government ; then the Federal Government Avill be required to use the specie in 
the safes of its Treasury as a basis for a currency in paper, based on the people's 
taxes ; bankrupt citizens will implore, and the paralyzed enterprise of the country will 
uplift its trembling hands and ask for mercy ; and then will the Sub-treasury stalk for- 
ward with its hundred arms outspread, and all its machinery ready. Then give but 
the power to emit Treasur]) bank notes and you Avill have a currency unlimited in its 
amount, as, for a time, it will be in credit. From that moment, (how near to, or re- 
mote from us, a merciful God only knows,) from that fated moment, the North Ameri- 
.,,can Republic ceases to be. The occupant of the Executive chair is then no longer 
,.the President known to the Constitution : he is from thence forward seated on an im- 
perial throne, covered over with dictatorial power ; the rights of the States, with their 
powers, are driven before the breath of his nostrils, like withered leaves before the 
blast of the tempest; and instead of a proud nation of freemen, strong in the posses- 
sion of their liberties, under a Government of limited powers, a consolidated empire 
of slaves, will kneel at the footstool of a despot, begging from him, as a boon, that 
liberty which our fathers, at the price of blood, bequeathed to us as an unalienable 
right. 

I have shrewdly suspected that our present Chief Magistrate was favorable to an 
executive bank. In President Jackson's second annual message, I find the following 
suggestions of such a system : 

"It is thought practicable to organize such a bank, with the necessary offices, as a 
branch of the Treasury Department, based on the public and individual deposites, 
■without power to make loans or purchase property, which shall remit the funds of the 
Government, and the expense of which may be paid, if thought advisable, by allow- 
ing its officers to sell bills of exchange to private individuals at a moderate premium^ 

In his third annual message I find the same suggestion, with an indication of some 
of its principal features. It is as follows : 

*' That a bank of the United States, competent to all the duties which may be re- 



11 

quired by the Government, might be so organized as not to infringe on our own dele- 
gated powers, or the reserved rights of the States, I do not entertain a doubt. Had 
the Executive been called upon to furnish such an institution, the duty would have been 
cheerfully performed." 

These suggestions of General Jackson were made when Mr. Van Buren was a 
member of the Cabinet, and, it is said, were approved by him. This was what was 
called an Executive bank in General Jacksoo's administration. In Mr. Van Buren's 
first annual message, I find the following kindred suggestion : 

''In transfering its funds from place to place, the Government is on the same foot- 
ing with a private citizen, and may resort to the same legal means. It may do so 
through the medium of hills drawn by itself, or purchased from others ; and in 
these operations it may, in a maimer undoubtedly constitutional and legitimate, fa- 
cilitate and assist exchanges of individuals founded on real transactions of trade. 
The extent to which this may be done, and the best means of effecting it, are entitled 
to the fullest consideration." 

Now, if buying and sellinghilh of exchange be a banking operation, then did these 
suggestions of General Jackson and Mr. Van Buren amount to the recommendation of 
an Executive bank; and that such an operation is banking, and a most profitable one 
too, none who are familiar with the subject can doubt. These are the grounds of my 
suspicion that Mr. Van Buren is favorable to such a one ; and that such will be the re- 
sult, I have no doubt, if the Administration succeed in fastening its financial schemes 
upon the country. 

The second objection which I take to the policy of Mr. Van Buren, is his recom- 
mendation of the establishment of a bankrupt law over ^' State corporations ^ This 
system, if adopted, will create another batch of salaried public officers, as commis- 
sioners of bankruptcy, to be located in all the prominent banking States, armed with 
authority, by federal power, to enter any bank, which, by force of the revulsions of 
trade, accident, or other necessity, may decline to redeem its notes in specie, take pos- 
session of all its assets and disburse them in that mode which shall be prescribed by 
act of Congress, regardless of the authority of the State by which they were created, 
or the provisions of its charter. That act which should benefit the State, and which 
the interests of the people might require would subject these institutions to the opera- 
tion of this bankrupt law, regardless of the wishes of the States or the interests of 
the people. Virginia, in one way or other, has about $3,000,000 of stock in her banks, 
which, under this system, would be administered by federal authority, and upon 
principles of federal law. Will she submit to this, or will she assert her own rights, 
administer her own funds, and manage her own institutions, in her own way ? I con- 
ceive that this scheme, if adopted, would be one of the grossest violations of the Con- 
stitution, and daring invasions of the rights of the States, which has been attempted 
since the foundation of this Government — the alien and sedition laws not ex- 
cepted; and only equalled in enormity by the proposed militia organization of the pre- 
sent session. What were the opinions of Mr. Van Buren upon this subject formerly. 
In 1827, in a speech in the Senate of the United States, upon this identical question, 
he said : 

"He did not think that any great difficulty existed in this question; to him the mat- 
ter was clear; but his impressions had been opposed by several Senators, and he would, 
protract the debate but a moment to give, very briefly, his views of the matter. It cer- 
tainly appeared to him, that one moment's reflection would decide gentlemen against 
the amendment proposed by his friend from South Carolina. It had been said, for- 
merly, and on various occasions, that the States had no right to grant bank charters, 
and that the banking privilege belonged exclusively to the Federal Government. No 
direct attempt, however, had hitherto been made to deprive the States of that power 
which they had long exercised unmolested. B^d noio the attempt xoas to he made, 
if not in an open and unequivocal nvanner, at least, in an indirect way, to strip 
the States of the power of chartering banks. At any rate, if it were contended that 
this provision did not go so far, it could not be denied that it interfered in the regula- 
tion which State Governments might have adopted for the government of those insti- 
tutions, which was an odious exercise of power not granted by the Constitution. — 
This amendment has this extent : It directs the States as to the manner in which they 
shall exercise their sovereignty in this particular, points out what penalty shall be in- 
flicted in case the charters granted by the States are violated. In fact, it points out 



12 

what the privileges granted to the incorporations shall be, by dictating the forfeiture, 
and directing what the companies may and Avhatthey may not do. All this has hith- 
erto been done by the States. They have assumed the direction of these matters as 
a right, which they doubtless have. And in including this subject of corporations in 
the bill now before the Senate, it will be taken entirely from the States and subjected 
to the power of the bankrupt system. This was never done, and never attempted iu 
any country on the face of the globe. In England, such a provision was never dreamed 
of, nor did he believe that, when the Constitution was framed, such an attribute was 
imagined by those who authorized the establishment of a bankrupt system. He did 
not accede to the opinion, that the system had power over all chartered institu- 
tions. By the very nature of their association, they were, in some respects, exempted 
from its operation, and no such power was ever contemplated, or was, at this moment, 
under the most extended construction, enjoyed by the General Government." 

How is it, that, Mr. Van Buren should when President, so radically change his views 
upon this important subject? Is it that it would be a thunderbolt in the hands of the 
Executive power, which, when hurled, would lay low every bank, which the Sub- 
Treasury could not destroy, or the smiles of patronage win to its embraces'? It would 
be a most admirable auxiliary to the Sub-Treasury scheme, and would do the work of 
destruction most effectively. Will any disciple of the ''Jim Crow" school of political 
philosophy, undertake to deny that upon this question, Mr. VanBuren's opinions have 
changed ; ay, fellow-citizens, most vitally and dangerously changed ? 

This project, //A-e f/)e 5^««?>-Trea.szfri/, had many opponents when it was first pro- 
posed ; but like that, it is assuming a party hue, and like that will be uhimately car- 
ried, if this Administration be not broken down, by a party vote for the benefit of 
party. Recently two distinguished Senators, and leading friends of the Administra- 
tion (Mr. Benton and Mr. Buchanan) have avowed their advocacy of it; the press 
defends it; and if the '■'Sub-Treasury'''' is adopted, this will follow in its wake. I 
am opposed, fellow-citizens, to all bankrupt laws, on account of the distinction it 
inakes between the merchant and the farmer and mechanic, and the injustice of can- 
celling a just debt by law against the consent of the creditor; but I am more parti- 
cularly opposed to this scheme, which would invade the power and oust the jurisdic- 
tion of the States over their own institutions. 

The third objection which I take to Mr. Van Buren's policy is the authority which 
he claims, that the Executive should be left at liberty to use banks or not, in the manage- 
ment of the financial operations of the government, at its discretion. I find the follow- 
ing sentiment in his message of. the 3d day of December, 1838 : 

" Like other State establishments they may be used ox not, in conducting the affairs 
of the Government, as public policy and the general interest of the Union may seem 
to require." 

This authority would leave the Executive invested with a discretion that would en- 
able it, with the influence of its patronage, to draAv into its embraces, and subject to its 
policy, the soundest and most efficient banks of the community. Through this instru- 
mentality, the Executive would address the most susceptible of all passions, self-inter- 
est. Without any argument on my part, I put in contrast with this view of Mr. Van 
Buren, those of General Jackson upon the same subject, by which it will be seen how 
diametrically opposite are the views of the "successor" and the predecessor. In Gen 
Jackson's message of December, 1834, he said: 

''In the regulations which Congress may prescribe respecting the custody op 

THE public money, IT IS DESIRABLE THAT A3 LITTLE DISCRETION AS MAY BE DEEMED CON- 
SISTENT WITH THEIR SAFE KEEPING, SHOULD BE GIVEN TO EXECUTIVE AGENTS. No One Can 

be more deeply impressed than I am with the soundness of the doctrine which restrains 
and limits, by specific provisions, Executive discretion, as far as it can lie done consis- 
tently with the preservation of its constitutiojial character. In respect to the control 
over the public money, this doctrine is peculiarly applicable.^^ — General Jackson'' s 
Message, December, 1835. 

Again he says upon this subject : 

"The duty of the Legislature to define by clear and positive enactment, the nature 
and extent of the action which it belongs to the Executive to superinten(J, springs out 
of a policy analagous to that which enjoins upon all the branches of the Federal Go- 
vernment an abstinence from the exercise of powers not clearly granted." 



13 
In his cabinet manifesto of the 18th of September, 1833, he said : 

" In ridding the country of an irresponsible power which has attempted to control the 
Government, care must be taken not to unite the same power to the Executive branch. 
To give a President control over the currency, and power over individuals now possess- 
ed by the Bank of the United States, even with the material difference that he is respon- 
sible to the people, would be as objectionable and dangerous as to leave it as it is. Neither 
the one nor the other is necessary, and therefore ought not to be resorted to." 

And again : 

" The attention of Congress is earnestly invited to the regulation of the deposites in 
the State banks, by law. Although the power now exercised by the Executive depart- 
ment in this behalf, is only such as was uniformly exerted through every Administra- 
tion from the origin of the government up to the establishment of the present bank, yet it 
is one which is susceptible of regulation by law, and therefore ought so to be regulated. 
The power of Congress to direct in what places the Treasurer shall keep the public mo- 
neys of the Treasury, and to impose restrictions upon the Executive authority, in rela- 
tion to their custody and removal, is unlimited and its exercise will rather be courted 
than discouraged by those public officers and agents on whom rests the responsibility for 
their safety. It is desirable that as little power as possible should be left to the President 
or Secretary of the Treasury over those institutions: which being thus freed from 
Executive influence, and without a common head to direct their operations, would 
have neither the temptation nor the ability to interfere in the political conflicts nf 
the country. Not deriving their characters from the national authorities, they woitld 
never have those inducements to meddle in general elections, which have led the 
Bank of the United States to agitate and convidse the country for upwards of two 
years.'''' 

General Jackson sought to tie up the hands of the Executive by law, Mr. Van Buren 
to keep them loose and unshackled. The Sub-Treasury friends of the Administration 
see imminent danger to the purity of the Government and the safety of the people, in re- 
gulating the deposites of the public money in banks by law, but they see none in leaving 
the Executive at discretion upon this subject, and giving them the Sub-Treasury as a 
sapper and miner, to undermine, and the bankrupt law as a battering ram to break them 
down. The discretion of this active, restless, and aspiring department of the Govern- 
ment, is much more safe in their estimation than '' laic ".'.'.' Combine this with the 
other powers now in, and proposed to be placed in the hands of the Executive, and how 
formidable and dangerous it will be none can be so blind as not to see. 

The fourth and not least formidable exception which I take to Mr. Van Buren's ad- 
ministration, is the following recommendation of the Secretary of War, for what he is 
pleased to call the organization of the militia : . 

"It is proposed to divide the United States into eight military districts, and to or- 
ganize the militia in each district, so as to have a body of twelve thousand five hundred 
men in active service, and another of equal number as a reserve. This would give an 
ARMED militia force of two hundred thousand men, so drilled and stationed, as to be 
ready to take their places in the ranks, in defence of the country, whenever called upon 
to oppose the enemy or repel the invader. The age of the recruit to be from twenty to 
thir'ty-seven. The whole term of service to be eight years ; /o?ir years in the frst 
class, and four in the reserve. One fourth part, twenty-five thousand men, to leave the 
service every year, passing, at the conclusion of the first term, into the reserve, and 
exempted from ordinary militia duty altogether, at the end of the second. In this 
manner twenty-five thousand men will be discharged from militia duty every year, and 
twenty-five thousand fresh recruits will be received into the service. It will be suf- 
ficient for all useful purposes, that the remainder of the militia, under certain regula- 
tions provided for their government, be enrolled, and be mustered at long and stated 
intervals ; for in due process of time, nearly the whole mass of the militia will pass 
through the first and second classes, and be either members of the active corps or of 
the reserve, or counted among the exempts, who will be liable to be called upon only 
in periods of invasion or imminent peril. The manner of enrollment, the number of 
■days of service, and the rate of compensation, ought to be fixed by law; but the details 
had better be left subject to regulation; a plan of which I am prepared to submit to 
you." 

Upon this recommendation the President says : 

•'The present condition of the defences of our principal seaports and navy yards, as 



14 

represented by the accompanying report of the Secretary of War, calls for the early and 
serious attention of Congress; and as connecting itself intimately with this subject, / 
cannot recommend too strongly to your consideration, the plan submitted by that 
officer, for the organization of the militia of the United States." 

I do not hesitate to pronounce, fellow citizens, that if this recommendation be carried 
into execution, it will be a most flagrant violation of the Constitution, open invasion of 
State power, and constitute a most dangerous military force to the liberties of the 
people. 

There are only three causes for which the militia can be called out under federal 
authority : " To execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, andrepel in- 
vasions." These are the express words of the constitution, and admit of no doubtful 
interpretation. The States never intended to place their militia under the authority of 
the General Government, except to meet these emergencies. This is manifest from the 
following clause of the 8th section of the 1st article of the Constitution, Congress shall 
have power ^'- to provide for organizing, armdng and disciplining the militia, and for 
governing such part of them as may he employed in the service of the United 
States, reserving to the States, respectively the appointment of the officers, and 
the authority o/ training the militia, according to the disci j)line prescribed by Con- 
gress.'''' The power of training the militia, is by this article reserved to the States, and 
therefore, prohibited to the Federal Government ; and the only causes for which the 
militia can be employed in the service of the United States, are those which I have enu- 
merated—to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel inva- 
sions. Can the Secretary of War find in either of these clauses of the Constitution, any 
warrant for this most extraordinary recommendation ? Most certainly he cannot. Let us 
analyze it, and the deformity of its features will be most prominently exposed. In the fir&t 
place, the 26 States of this confederation are to be divided into eight miUtary districts; 
so that an average of more than three States will be embraced in a military district. 
Between these districts there is to be " recruited," (I use the Secretary's own form of 
expression,) 200,000 men, for eight years, one-half in constant " active" service of the 
United States, and in its pay, and subject to its authority. For what object? avowedly 
to be trained. And thus the militia may be carried from one State to another within its 
military district, to do that by federal authority, ^' trained,^'' Avhich the Constitution ex- 
pressly prohibits. Am I mistaken in this? In addition to the plain language, and pal- 
pable purpose of the report, I turn to the 17th section of the detailed report of the Sec- 
retary of War, of the 20th of March, 1840. It provides : 

" That the president of the United States be authorized to call forth and assemble 
such numbers of the active force of the militia, at such places within their respective 

districts, and at such times, not exceeding twice, nor days in the same year, as he 

may deem necessary ; and during such period, including the time when going to, and 
returning from, the place of rendezvous, they shall be deemed in the service of the 
United States, and be subject to such regidations as the President may think proper 
to adopt for their instruction, discipline, and improvement in military discipline." 

Now, fellow-citizens, take up the Constitution, reflect upon its provisions— the cau- 
tion with which power over the militia was imparted to the Federal Government, and 
the strong restrictions placed upon that power ; and ask yourselves Avhat part of the 
Constitution justifies this provision. 

This scheme proposes an inequality in the time of service — the arming, equipping 
and training the militia — which, independent of its unconstitutionality and danger, 
should stamp it with utter reprobation. These men are to serve but eight years, the 
ordinary militia on an average of twenty-five. These men are to have the advantages 
of strict discipline, the ordinary militia its present disorganized and chaotic state. — 
These men are to be paid for the time they are engaged in performing military duty, 
the ordinary militia to be unpaid. These men are to be kept constantly armed and 
equipped, the ordinary militia, I suppose, to have cornstalks and sticks iu their hands, 
to learn the use of the fire-lock. I am sure the great body of the militia will never 
submit to these gross inequalities. The value of the militia system and the safety of 
the people demand that the whole militia force should be upon an equality — uniform ia 
its discipline, arms, equipment and service. 

This " elite" militia force, when organized, is to be placed under the command of 
the President, to be in the pay of the Government of the United States ; and sub- 
jected to the temptations which honor, emolument, and military pride will throw ia 
their way for eight years, and subjected to the rules and articles of war. Is there no 



15 

danger in this, fellow-citizens? If there is none, what would constitute danger? for 
these two hundred thousand men, under the command of the President, and in the pay 
of the Federal Government, would be just as much a regular force as if it had the name, 
and as liable to be seduced to the purposes of ambition. The more I see of the progress 
of this Government and its tendency to monarchy, the more I admire and approve of 
that jealousy of standing armies which our republican fathers so strongly manifested 
at the formation of the Constitution. Any mass of organized men, with arms in their 
hands, in the pay and subject to the authority of an aspiring ambitious chieftain, with 
the whole revenues of the nation in his hands, will be dangerous to liberty, and should 
be looked upon with the greatest apprehension. 

From the most accurate estimate which I can make, this system would not add less 
than $4,000,000 to the annual expenditures of the Government ; M^hich, taking into 
consideration the present heavy annual burden upon the people, is no inconsiderable 
objection to this wild, dangerous and unnecessary system. 

There are other exceptions, fellow-citizens, which I take to the principles and policy 
of this Administration, which would, in themselves, be fruitful themes of commen- 
tary ; such as the recommendation of an authority to invest surpluses of the revenue 
in the buying and selling of State stocks ; regarded by all our Republican Presidents 
as prolific sources of corruption. The graduation of the prices of the public lands 
which would, in effect, surrender the public lands to the new States ; a scheme to 
which Mr. Van Buren while a member of the Senate, was decidedly opposed, and 
the extraordinary pretension of the President that the Executive is a component part 
of the Legislature, on which I might enlarge, but I forbear ; those which I have speci- 
fically enumerated are in themselves sufficient for my purpose. 

For a true picture of the extraordinary powers which the schemes which I have 
enumerated would confer on the Executive department, their influence upon the destiny 
of our country, and dangerous effects upon our free institutions, I quote from Mr. Ben- 
ton's and Mr. Van Buren's report of 1826, to which I have before referred. The con- 
cluding paragraph of that admirable document says : 

" The committee must then take things as they are. Not being able to lay the axe 
to the root of the tree, they must go to pruning among the limbs and branches. Not 
being able to reform the Constitution in the election of President, they must go to 
work upon his powers, and trim down these by statutory enactments, wherever it can 
be done by law, and with a just regard to the proper efficiency of the Government. — 
For this purpose, they have reported the six bills which have been enumerated. TJiey 
do not pretend to have exhausted the subject^ but only to have seized a few of its 
prominent points. They have only touched in four places^ the vast and pervading 
system of Federal E.xecutive patronage — the press, the Post Office, the armed 
FofcE, and the appointing power. They are fcAV, compared to the whole number of 
points which the system presents ; but they are points vital to the liberties of the 
country. The Press is put foremost, because it is the moving power of human action; 
the Post Office is the handmaid of the press : the armed force its executor, and the 
appointing power the directress of the whole. If the appointing power was itself an 
emanation of the popular will ; if the President was himself the officer and the organ 
of the people ; there would be less danger in leaving to his will the sole direction of 
all these arbiters of human fate. But things must be taken as they are ; statesmen 
must act for the country they live in, and not for the Island of Utopia ; they must 
act upon the state of facts in that country, and not upon the visions of fancy. In the 
country for Avhich the committee act, the press, (with some exceptions,) the Post 
Oflace, the armed force, and the appointing power, are in the hands of the President, 
and the President himself is not in the hands of the people. The President may^ 
and in the current of human affairs, will be, against the people ; and in his hands, the 
arbiters of human fate must be against them also. This will not do. The possi- 
bility of it must be avoided. The safety of the people is the ^supreme law,'' and 
to ensure that safety, these arbiters of human fate must change position, and take 
post on the side of the people." 

If this picture and these prophecies had been drawn with express reference to the 
existing state of things, could they, fellow-citizens, have better described them ? The 
prophetic accuracy with which that distinguished patriot and statesman, Patrick 
Henry, saw the dangers of the] Executive power, is to be found in the following 
extract from one of his speeches, in opposition to the adoption of the Constitution : 

" Tell me when and where did freedom exist when the purge aad the sword were 



16 

given up from the people ? Unless a miracle in human affairs should interpose, no na- 
tion ever did or ever can retain its liberty after the loss of the sword and the purse. 

" 1 object, too, against the immense patronage of the President, because it places in 
his hands the means of corruption, and distributes throughout the country a band of 
retainers in the shape of judges, revenue officers, and others, which render him irre- 
sistible in any scheme of ambition that he might meditate against the liberties of the 
country. ******* Gentlemen depend upon it, this 
power may work sorely on your necks." 

That these measures, if acquiesced in, tend to break down the powers of the 
States, destroy their resources, and build up a great central power in the Federal Go- 
vernment, to be Avielded by the will of a single man, is too obvious to need any argu- 
ment to prove. In jjjlace of any reasoning or speculation of my own, I here subjoin 
an extract from the Republican Address of 1798, to which I have before referred, 
which applies with irresistible force. These venerated patriots say : 

" The acquiescence of the States, under infractions of the Federal compact, wovdd 
either beget a speedy consolidation, by precipitating the State Governments into im- 
potency and contempt, or prepare the way for a revolution, by a repetition of these in- 
fractions, until the people are aroused to appear in the majesty of their strength. It is 
to avoid these calamities that we exhibit to the people the momentous question^ 
whether the Constitution of the United States shall yield to a construction which de- 
fies every restraint and overwhelms the best hopes of republicanism." 

■' Exhortations to disregard domestic usurpations, until foreign dangers shall have 
past, is an artifice which may be forever used ; because the possessors of power, who 
are the advocates for its extension, can ever create national embarrassme^its, to 
be successively employed to soothe the people into sleep, whilst that power is swell- 
ing SILENTLY, SECRETL\^, and FATALLY. Of the same character are insinuations of a 
foreign influence, which seize upon a laudable enthusiasm against danger from abroad, 
and distort it by an unnatural application, so as to blind your eyes against danger at 
home." 

I also subjom the folloAving extracts from Mr. Madison's immortal report of '99 ; a re- 
port which should be the text-book of every republican, which applies with as much, 
if not more, force to the measures of this Administration, upon which I have animad- 
verted than those against which it was directed. It says : 

" That the obvious tendency and inevitable result of a consolidation of the States 
mto one sovereignty, would be to transform the republican system of the United States 
mto a monarchy, is a point which seems to have been sufficiently decided by the gene- 
ral sentiment of America. In almost every instance of discussion relating to the con- 
solidation in question, its certain tendency to pave the Avay to monarchy, seems not t& 
have been contested. The prospect of such a consolidation has formed the only topic 
of controversy. It would be unnecessary, therefore, for the committee to dwell long 
on the reasons which support the position of the General Assembly. It may not be 
improper, however, to remark two consequences, evidently flowing from an extension' 
of the federal power to every subject falling within the idea of the 'general welfare.' 

'' One consequence must be to enlarge the sphere of discretion allotted to the Exe- 
cutive Magistrate. Even within the legislative limits, properly defined by the Con- 
stitution, the difficulty of accommodating legal regulations to a country so great in ex- 
tent, and so various in its circumstances, had been much felt, and has led to occa- 
sional investments of power in the Executive, which involve perhaps as large a portion 
of discretion as can be deemed consistent with the nature of the executive trust. 

''In proportion as the objects of legislative care might be multipUed would the time 
allowed for each be diminished, and the difficulty of providing uniform and particular 
regulations for aU be increased. From these sources would necessarily ensue a 
greater latitude to the agency of that department %ohich is always in existence, and 
'which could, best moidd regulations of a general nature, so as to suit them to the 
diversity of particular situations. And it is in this latitude, as a supplement to the 
(deficiency of the laws, that the degree of executive prerogative materially consists." 

These, fellow-citizens, are the grounds of my objection to the re-election of Mr. 
"Van Buren, and which have determined me to oppose it by aU fair and honorable 
means. You will perceive that all have arisen since his election, and during the pro- 
gress of iiis Administration. They are founded on principles which I maintained, in: 



17 

common with you, when I came into Congress — principles which I believe sound, and 
which I have not changed and will not change. Ihave, I admit, changed as to my 
support of Mr. Van Buren ; but it is because he has changed his principles, and I 
cannot change with him. 

If, for the reasons which I have assigned, I shall have justified myself in opposing 
ihe re election of Mr. Van Buren, having heretofore supported him, the next question 
IS, whether I can justify myself in supporting General Harrison, with the objections 
which I heretofore made to his election, and the advantage of principle or expediency, 
which I expect to be derived from his success? This I will answer. 

The first objection to General Harrison is, that he was a federalist of the school of 
'98. This charge has no foundation but the naked assertion of John Randolph, made 
in the Senate of the United States, without a scrap of recorded history to sustain it. 
The charge was no sooner made than promptly repelled by General Harrison. His 
denial is sustained by the testimony of Judge Burnett, of Ohio, who has known Gene- 
ral Harrison intimately all his life, and by the fact that Mr. Jefferson had great confi- 
dence in him, and, after his accession to the Presidency, appointed him to several 
offices of high importance and trust. There is no truth in the charge. 

The second objection is that he is the friend of a protective tariff. That General 
Harrison was the friend of a protective tariff cannot be doubted, for his speeches in 
Congress, and votes upon the tariff prove that. But not only did Mr. Van Buren, but 
the present Vice President, and Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Benton, prominent friends of 
the administration, all did the same thing ; and, so far as these opinions and these votes 
constitute an objection to General Harrison, they equally constitute an objection to Mr. 
Van Buren. To shield Mr. Van Buren from responsibility forthese votes, the instruc- 
tion of the New York Legislature to vote for the tariff of 1828 is relied upon. Was 
Mr. Van Buren instructed when he voted for the tariff of 1824? Does not his obe- 
dience to tlie instruction of 1828 prove his acknowledgment of the constitutional 
power of Congress ? and does not his Albany speech in 1827, prove that he favored it 
on grounds of expediency ? The mystery why Mr. Van Buren could vote without in- 
struction, for the tariff of 1824, and required the force of instruction to vote for that 
of 1828, IS perhaps to be found in the fact that, in 1824, he had not fixed his eyes upon 
the elevated height of the Presidential chair. But I need not detain you upon this 
subject. The compromise acts of 1832 and 1833 upon this vital question is the ground 
upon Avhich Mr. Van Buren and his friends plant themselves ; and this is the ground 
upon which General Harrison plants himself, as will be seen by the following letter, 
written in reply to a letter addressed t j him by several of his political friends : 

"Zanesville, November 2, 1836. 

''Gentlemen: I had the honor, this moment, to receive your communication of yes- 
terday. I regret that my remarks of yesterday were misunderstood in relation to the 
tariff system. What I meant to convey was that I had been a warm advocate for that 
system upon its first adoption, that 1 still believed in the benefits it had conferred upon 
the country. But I certainly never had, nor never would have, any idea of reviving 
it. What I said was that I would not agree to the repeal as it now stands. In other 
words, I am for supporting the compromise act, and never will agree to its being al- 
tered or repealed. 

''In relation to the internal improvement system, I refer you, for my sentiments, to 
my letter to the honorable Sherrod Williams. 

" WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 

•'Messrs. Doster, Taylor, and others." 

It will be seen by the date of this letter that when I wrote the address to the people 
cf Nelson, which has recently been recurred to by my opponents, as involving me in 
gross inconsistency, it had not been published, and I was ignorant of the fact that 
General Harrison had determined to abide the compromise act. 

The third objection to General Harrison is, that he is the advocate of the constitu- 
tional power of Congress to construct roads and canals in the States. This is true; 
General Harrison's speeches and votes as a member of Congress prove the fact ; and 
I freely admit that General Harrison voted more freely for appropriations of this sort 
than Mr. Van Buren did, who also is, to some extent, involved in this charge. But 
upon this question, also, Mr. Van Buren and General Harrison have quadrated their 
opinions to the same standard, as will be seen by reference to both of their letters to 
Sherrod Williams. Both think the Constitution should be amended, so as to impart 
the power to the Federal Government, with such restrictions as will produce equality 
in its administration. Both think these appropriations should be confined to works of a 
2 



18 

strictly national character. But, fellow-citizens, many of the most prominent friends 
of Mr. Van Buren's Administration advocated the same doctrines and gave the same 
votes upon this subject that General Harrison did. The Vice President, Mr. Benton, 
Mr. Buchanan, and many others — not to say Henry St. George Tucker, the president 
of the new fledged " Democratic Republican State rights party" central committee 
of Virginia. Mr. Benton voted for the bill appropriating money for the construction of 
the Maysville road, over General Jackson's celebrated veto. Upon this question, then 
Mr. Van Buren and his friends are as obnoxious as General Harrison. 

The fourth objection to General Harrison is, that he is friendly to the institution of 
a national bank. This is one of the charges which I made against General Harrison 
ill 1836, but it seems without aoy just foundation. In 1832, in a letter to the "Cin- 
cinnati Inquisitor," he pronounced the late Bank of the United States unconstitutional. 
In his letter to Sherrod Williams he repeated this declaration, and nowhere and upon 
no occasion has he ever declared himself favorable to one. Being interrogated by 
Mr. Williams whether, if elected President, he would approve a bill charterlno- a na- 
tional bank, he answers : 

'' I wonld, if it were clearly ascertained that the public interest, in relation to the 
collection and disbursement of the revenue would materially suffer without one, and 
there were unequivocal manifestations of public opinion in its favor. I think, however, 
the experiment should be fairly tried, to ascertain whether the financial operations cannot 
be as well carried on without the aid of a national bank. If it is not necessary for 
that purpose, it does not appear to me that one can be constitutionally chartered. — 
There is no construction Avhich I can give the Constitution which would authorize it, 
on the ground of affording facilities to commerce." 

From this extract, it is entirely manifest that General Harrison is, upon constitu- 
tional grounds, opposed to a national bank ; and that if, as President of the United 
States, he should yield his own scruplts, and approve an act to charter one, it would 
be from the actual necessities of the^Treasury, in relation to the receipt and disburse- 
ment of the public revenue, and the ?me9?«"rocaZ manifestations of public opinion in its 
favor. Thus occupying precisely Mr. Madison's ground when he signed the charter 
of the late bank. Mr. Van Buren is, professedly, uncompromising in his opposition 
to a national bank, but he favors an executive machinery which is nothing more nor 
less than a bank, and infinitely more to be dreaded than a joint-stock bank chartered 
by Congress, and any that General Harrison could be brought to approve. Misled by 
the public prints of the day, I certainly did General Harrison great injustice in charging 
him, in as round terms as I did in 1836, with being favorable to a nationul bank, anS I 
cheerfully retract it. In nelding his approbation under any circumstances lo an act 
incorporating a national bank. General Harrison would do more than I would, yet his 
opinions are opposed to the system, and his influence would be directed against it. 

Fellow-citizens, I find the recorded votes of many who stand high in the confidence 
of all republicans, who not only asserted the constitutional power of Congress to 
charter a national bank, but voted for the bill chartering the late bank. Among the 
number are Mr. Forsyth, the Secretary of State, Mr. Cuthbert, and Mr. Lumpkin, 
now Senators from Georgia. Mr. Crawford was its decided advocate — General Har- 
rison never was. This objection, then, cannot avail. 

The fifth objection is that General Harrison is an abolitionist, in the modern 
sense of this term. 

Within the last five years, the subject of what is called "modern abolition" has 
caused, very justly, an anxious inquiry into the powers of the Federal Government 
over the slave property held in the Southern section of the confederacy. Of all the 
topics that have been made the subject of approval or condomnation of the Presi- 
dential candidates, by the friends and opponents of either, there is no one in which 
the party opposed to General Harrison have more grossly misrepresented his principles 
than on this. Feeling in common Avith every other citizen of the South, a desire to 
know the opinions of the two candidates now before the people on this subject, I have 
endeavored to trace them through their public career, and from their votes and conduct 
heretofore, if possible, ascertain what they have in former times thought and said, as 
well as what they now tlimk and say, touching the question of abolition. 

Whilst I freely concede to every one the right to entertain his own opinions regard- 
ing the original institution of slavery ; I consider it a question of very different import, 
what may be the principles of a public man on the subject of the constitutional 
powers of^ the Federal Government over the existing relations of master and slave in 



19 

the United States. The first relates to the original organization of the social and po- 
litical systems ; the last touches the powers of the Government over the citizen, under 
a system already established, which system, every motive of patriotism combines with 
the superadded obligations of an oath, to oblige every citizen to maintain, not as he 
might wish it to have been formed at first, but as it was made and transmitted to us 
by our revolutionary fathers. 

The first occasion, I believe, which presented prominently this question, was on the 
admission of Missouri into the Union. It is well known that the territory compre- 
hended within Missouri, was ceded to the United States by a foreign Power, by treaty, 
which contained a stipulation requiring the inhabitants of the ceded territory, to be 
admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States. The inhabitants 
of Missouri held slaves as property, and when she sought admission into the Union, 
the right to become a member of the confederacy was by some denied her, unless she 
should provide by the Constitution, for the abolition of slavery within the limits of the 
proposed State. 

On the 16th of February, 1819, General Harrison was a member of Congress, from 
the Cincinnati district, in the State of Ohio, a non-slaveholding State, and on that 
day, it will appear by the journals of Congress, the vote was taken on the law im- 
posing restrictions on the admission of Missouri into the Union. The first clause of 
these restrictions prohibited the further introduction of slaves into Missouri : General 
Harrison recorded his vote against this restriction. The second clause provided for the 
emancipation of all slaves at the age of twenty-five years, born within said State : 
General Harrison recorded his vote against this also. Two days after ihis he voted 
against a clause prohibiting the future introduction of slavery into Arkansas, and 
against the future emancipation of slaves born in Arkansas. Here we find General 
Harrison, in 1319, standing side by side Avith the Southern portion of the Union, ia 
opposition, let it not be forgotten, to every one of his then colleagues from the State 
of Ohio, holding and upholding, by his vote, those principles for which Virginia and 
the whole South then and now contend. To estimate fully the value of such a course, 
and the true character of the man, we should bear in mind the time and occasion re- 
ferred to. When these votes were given, General Harrison, in common with every 
other observing man, knew that he Avas sacrificing temporary popularity to his convic- 
tions of duty. He saw, as did every other enlightened statesman of that day, in the 
question then pending, the elements of a tempest, the first gale of which then rocked 
the Union to its base, and which now, with accumulated fury, threatens to dash the 
fabric of the Union to atoms. His patriotism did not stop to calculate the chances of 
gaining votes and winning "golden opinions;" he thought only for his country, and 
acted, fearless of consequences, in the way to save her. What, now let us ask, did 
Mr. Van Buren in this crisis ? In the year 1820, the Missouri question was still pend- 
ing and unsettled. Public opinion, from all quarters of the Union, was roused into 
painful activity, and brought to bear upon Congress in every possible shape. The 
most obvious and efi'ective of the modes adopted, by the States, to influence the deci- 
sion of Congress, was that of legislative instruction of Senators, and request of Re- 
presentatives, to vole for or against the Missouri restrictions, as the opinions of the 
States might happen to be. Mr. Van Buren, in the year 1820. was a member of the 
State Senate of New York, and in that year, the following preamble and resolution 
came up in that body for adoption : 

" Whereas the inhibiting the further extension of slavery in these United States is 
a subject of deep concern to the people of this State ; and whereas we consider 
slavery as an evil much to be deplored, and that every constitutional barrier should 
b e inter posedio prevent its further extension; and that the Constitution of the United 
States clearly gives Congress the right to require of new States, not comprehended 
within the original boundaries of the United States, the prohibiting of slavery as a 
condition of their admission into the Union : Therefore, 

^^ Resolved, That our Senators be instructed, and our Representatives in Congress 
be requested, to oppose the admission, as a State, into the Union, of any Territory 
not comprised as aforesaid, making the prohibition of slavery therein an indispen- 
sable condition of admission.'''' 

"On the 29th of January, 1820, the Senate (of New York) took up the resolution 
and passed the same 7inanimously. the following Senators being present: Messrs. 
Adams, Austin, Barnum, Barton, Brown, Childs, Dudley, Dayton, Ditness, Evans, Forth - 
ington, Hammond, Hart, Livingston, Lundsberry, McMortin, Moors, Mallary, Moore, 
Noyes, Payne, Ross, Rozencraatz, Skinner, Swan, Van Buren, Wilson, Young— 29." 



20 

Here we have the recorded evidence of Mr. Van Buren's opinion on this subject, in 
1820, and his vote as given above. Was he then with the South? No; he voted for 
a resolution affirming that " slavery was an evil greatly to be deplored,'^ and ^Hhat 
every constitutional barrier should be interposed to prevent its extension f and as- 
serts, then, that one constitutional method of checking the extension of slavery, is, 
toadmit no new State into the Union, unless upon the condition that the people of 
such new State shall give up the right to their slaves. And he votes instructions to the 
then Senator from New York according to these views. Thus, it appears that, while 
at this momentous crisis, General Harrison was in Congress bravmg the fury of the 
storm, guarding by his vote the rights of the South, Mr. VanBuren (now put forward 
as the exclusive guardian of Southern rights) was, by his vote and expressed opi- 
nions, contributing all in his power to the elements of disunion, which were connected 
with the subject, and instrncting his Senators to give votes directly opposed to the 
principles then and now held by the South, and, strange to say, directly opposed to the 
principles which he himself now professes to be his own, and the true constitutional 
rule on the subject. Then, when his aims had not yet reached to grasp Southern 
yoiei,\\^ h'a.Aoneset of principles. Now, when Southern votes are wanted to seat 
him in federal power, he professes another and directly opposite set of jn-inciplcs. — 
Thus we have a clue to that expressive description of Mr. Van Buren's principles as a 
politician. He is, by his partial friends, said to be "a Northern man with Southern 
principles." If recorded history be not false and untrue, a definition more aptly de- 
scriptive of him would be, "a Northern man HuY/wi/i principles ! 

Passing from the period of the Missouri controversy, let us see what are the prin- 
ciples of General Harrison now on the question of abolition. To put the subject in a 
light not to be misunderstood or misrepresented, I here subjoin a full and clear state- 
ment of General Harrison's views touching this question, as delivered by himself in a 
speech to the people of Vincennes, in the State of Indiana, as late as 1835. That por- 
tion of his address which relates to this subject is given; by which it wiUbe seen that 
he then, as now, a candidate for the Presidency, speaking to the people of a non-slave- 
holdiXig State, did not hesitate to convey to them and the world opinions which it nriay 
be faiHy supposed were not likely to be well received by those to whom they were im- 
mediately addressed: 

Extracts from General Harrison''s speech at Vincennes, Indiana, July ith, 1835. 

"I have now, fellow-citizens, a few words more to say on another subject, and 
which is, in my opinion, of more importance than any other that is now in the course 
of discussion in any part of the Union. 1 allude to the societies which have been 
formed, and the movements of certain individuals, in some of the States, in relation to 
a portion of the population in others. The conduct of these persons is the more dan- 
gerous, because their object is masked under the garb of disinterestedness and benevo- 
lence ; and their course vindicated by arguments and propositions which in the abstract 
no one can deny. But, however fascinating may be the dress with Avhich their 
schemes are presented to their fellow-citizens, with whatever purity of intention they 
may have been formed and sustained, they will be found to carry in their train mischief 
10 the whole Union, and horrors to a large portion of it, which it is propable some of the 
projectors and many of their supporters have never thought of; the latter, the first in 
the series of evils which arc to spring from this source, are such as you have read of, 
to have been perpetrated on the fair plains of Italy and Gaul by the Scythian hordes 
of Attila and Alaric ; and such, as most of you apprehended upon that memorable 
night, when the tomahawks and war clubs of the followers of Tecuinseh were rattling 
in your suburbs. I regard not the disavowals of any such intention upon the part of 
the authors of these schemes, since, upon the examination of the publications which 
have been made, they will be found to contain the very fact and every argument which 
would have been used if such had been their objects. I am certain that there is not 
in this assembly one of these deluded men, and that there are few within the bounds 
of the State. If there are any, I would earnestly entreat them to forbear, to pause in 
their career, and deliberately consider the consequences of their conduct to the whole 
Union, to the States more immediatelv interested, and to those for whose benefit they 
profess to act. That the latter will be the victims of the weak, injudicious, presump- 
tuous, and unconstitutional efforts to serve them, a thorough examination of the sub- 
ject must convince them. The struggle (and struggle there must be) may commence 
with horrors such as I have described, but it will end with more firmly riveting the 
chains, or in the utter extirpation of those whose cause they advocate. Am I wrongs 



21 

fellow -citizens, in applying the terms weak, presumptuous, and unconstitutional, to the 
measures of the emancipators? A slight examination will, I think, show that I am not. 
In a vindication of the objects of a convention Avhich was lately held in one of the 
towns of Ohio, which I saw in a newspaper, it was said that nothing more was in- 
tended than to produce a state of public teeling which would lead to an amendment 
of the constitution, authorizing the abolition of slavery in the United States. Now, 
can an amendment to the constitution be effected without the consent of the Southern 
States'? What, then, is the proposition to be submitted to them? It is this: The 
present provisions of the constitution secure to you the right (a right which you held 
before it was made, and which you have never given up) to manage your domestic 
concerns in your own way ; but as we are convinced that you do not manage them pro- 
perly, we want you to put in the hands of the General Government, in the councils of 
which we have the majority, the control over these matters, the effect of which will be 
virtually to transfer the power from yours into our hands. Again, in some of the 
States, and in sections of others, the black population far exceeds that of the white. 
Some of the emancipators propose an immediate abolition. What is the proposition 
then as it regards those States and parts of States, but the alternatives of amalgama- 
tion with the blacks, or an exchange of situations with them? Is there any man of 
common sense who does not believe that the emancipated blacks, being a majority, 
will not insist upon a full participation of political rights with the Avhites, and, when 
possessed of these, that they will not contend for a full share of social rights also? 
What but the extremity of" weakness and folly could induce any one to think that 
such propositions as these could be listened to by a people so intelligent as those of the 
Southern States? Further, the emancipators generally declare that it is their inten- 
tion to effect their object (although their acts contradict the assertion bv no other means 
than by convincing the slaveholders that the immediate emancipation of the slaves is 
called for both by moral obligation and sound policy. An unfledged youth at the mo- 
ment of his leaving (indeed in some instances before he has left it) his Theological 
Seminary, undertakes to give lectures upon morals to the countrymen of Wythe, 
Tucker, Pendleton, and Lowndes, and lessons of political wisdom to States Avhose 
affairs have so recently been directed by Jefferson and Madison, Macon and Crawford. 
Is it possible that instances of greater vanity and presumption could be exhibited? 

"But the course pursued by the emancipators is unconstitutional. I do not say that 
there are any words in the constitution which forbid such discussions as they say 
they are engaged in. I know that there are not. And there is even an article which 
secures to the citizens the right to express and publish their opinions without restric- 
tion. But in the construction of the constitution it is always necessary to refer to the 
circumstances under which it was framed, and to ascertain its meaning by a compari- 
son of its provisions with each other, and with the previous situation of the several 
States who were parties to it. In a portion of these slavery was recognised, and they 
took care to have the right secured to them to follow and reclaim such of them as 
were fugitives to other States. The laws of Congress passed under this power have 
provided punishment to any who shall oppose or interrupt the exercise of this right. — 
Now, can any one believe that the instrument w^hich contains a provision of this kind, 
which authorizes a master to pursue his slave into another State, take him back, and 
provides a punishment for any citizen or citizens of that State who should oppose 
him, should at the same time authorize the latter to assemble together, to pass resolu- 
tions and adopt addresses, not only to encourage the slaves to leave their masters, but 
to cut their throats before they do so? I insist that, if the citizens of the non-slave- 
holding States can avail themselves of the article of the constitution which prohibits 
the restriction of speech or the press, to publish any thing injurious to the rights of the 
slaveholding States, thev can go to the extreme that I have mentioned, and effect any 
thing further which writing or speaking could effect. But, fellow-citizens, these are 
not the principles of the constitution. Such a construction would defeat one of the 
great objects of its formation, which was that of securing the peace and harmony of 
the States which were parties to it. The liberty of speech and of the press were 
given as the most effectual means to preserve to each and every citizen their own 
rights, and to the States the rights which appertained to them at the time of its adop- 
tion. 

" It could never have been expected that it would be used by the citizens of one portion 
of the States for the purpose of depriving those of another portion of the rights, which 
they had reserved at the adoption of the constitution, and in the exercise of which none 
but themselves have any concern or interest. If slavery is an evil, (and no one more 



22 

readily acknowledges it than I do,) the evil is wilji them. If there is guilt in it; 
the guilt is theirs, not ours, since neither the States where it does not exist, nor the 
Government of the United States, can, without usurpation of power, and the violation 
of a solemn compact, do any thing to remove it, without the consent of those who are 
immediately interested. With that consent there is not a man in the whole world whc 
would more willingly contribute his aid to accomplish it than I would. If my vote could 
effect it, every surplus dollar in the Treasury should be appropriated to that object. But 
they will neither ask for aid nor consent to be aided, so long as the illegal, persecuting, and 
dangerous movements are in progress of which I complain ; the interest of all concerned 
requires that these should be immediately stopped. This can only be done by the force of 
public opinion, and that cannot too soon be brought into operation. Every movement 
which is made by the abolitionists in the non-slaveholding States is viewed by our South- 
ern brethren as an attack upon their rights, and which, if persisedin, mustin the end, era- 
dicate those feelings of attachment and affection between the citizens of all the States 
which were produced by a community of interests and dangers in the war of the Re- 
volution, which was the foundation of our happy Union, and by a continuance of which it 
alone can be preserved. I entreat you then, fellow citizens, to frown upon the measures 
which are to produce results, so much to be deprecated. The opinions which I have 
now given, I have omitted no opportunity for the last two years to lay before the peo- 
ple of my own State. I have taken the liberty to express them here, knowing that 
even if they should unfortunately not accord with yours, they would be kindly re- 
ceived." 

With these proofs of uniform adherence to anti-abolition views, by General Harri- 
son, running through a period of twenty years, I should dismiss the subject, but that I 
feel impelled by a sense of duty, to expose the low artifices lately employed to mislead 
public sentiment, by garbled extracts of letters, which are, however put forth with every 
appearance of giving an entire statement. It is amongst the melancholy omens with 
which the times abound, that the statements of the public press have ceased to carry with 
them, in public estimation, the evidence of truth. As an instance of this kind, 1 give 
belov/ yvhax pjirpo7^ts to be a letter of General Harrison, in full, addressed to the people. 
As it is published by his enemies it stands thus : 

" TO THE PUBLIC. 

Fellow Citizens : Being suddenly called home, to attend to my sick family, I have' 
but a moment to answer a few of the calumnies which are in circulation against me. 

" I am accused of being friendly to slavery. From my earliestyouthup to the present 
moment, I have been the ardent friend of human liberty. At the age of 18, I became 
a member of an abolition society, established at Richmond, the object of whicTi was to 
ameliorate the condition of slaves, and procure their freedom by every legal means. 
My venerable friend Judge Gatcb, of Clermont County, was also a mernber of this 
society, and has lately given me a certificate that 1 was one. The obligations I came 
under I have faithfully performed. 

" WM. HENRY HARRISON." 

in a recent publication, addressed to the people of Virginia, the above appears, and 
is there stated to be taken from a paper published in Cincinnati, on the 14lh of Febru- 
ary last. A plain, honest inquirer, searching for truth, and reading the above, would 
naturally suppose that it was, 1st, a letter written in February last ; 2ndly, that it was 
an entire letter; and, 3rdly, as a consequence from its contents, he would conclude, that 
it was expressly written by General Harrison, to show that he was an abolitionist of 
the modern school. Such undoubtedly is the impression which the publication referred 
■to is intended to produce. But what is our surprise when we learn, first, that the letter 
■was not written in February 18-iO, butin 1822 i2ndly, that it is notan entire letter, but only 
two short paragraphs of a long k Iter, the whole remainder of which is carefully suppress- 
ed ; and, 3dly, that it was written for the purpose of defending himself against the votes, 
I hate quoted, given on the Missouri question, and thai the part suppressed, contains a 
ix>mplete and full avowal of the principles of those votes, he being then (1822,) a candi- 
date again for Congrfss, and Mr. Ga-.^^ley, who, as we shall see was elected as an aboU- 
tooni'jt, being his opponent. Here follows the entire letter as it was then published : 

'^TO THE PUBLIC. 

*«Fkllow Citi:lenb: Being called suddenly homo, to attend my sick family, i have but 
a moment to answer a few of the calumnies which are in circulation coflcermngme. 



23 

" I am accused of being friendly to slavery. From my earliest youth to the present 
moment, I have been the ardent friend of human liberty. At the age of 18, / became 
a member of an abolition society, established at Richmond, Virginia ; the object of 
which was to ameliorate the condition of slaves, and procure their freedom by eve- 
ry legal means. My venerable friend Judge Gatch, of Clermont county, was also a 
member of that Society, and has lately given me a certificate that I was one. The ob- 
ligations which I then came under I have faithfully performed. I have been the 
means of liberating many slaves but never placed one in bondage. I deny that my 
votes in Congress, in relation to Missouri and Arkansas, are in the least incompatible 
with these principles. Congress had no more legal or constitutional right to emanci- 
pate the negroes In those sections of Louisiana, without the consent of their owners, 
than they have to free those of Kentucky. These people were secured in their proper- 
ty by a solemn covenant with France, when the country was purchased from that Power. 
To prohibit the emigration of citizens of the Southern States, to the part of the country, 
the situation and climate of which was peculiarly suited to them, would have been 
highly unjust, as it had been purchased out of the common fund ; particularly, too, when it 
isl-ec Uected that all the immense territory to the Northwest of the Ohio had been ce- 
ded by Virginia, and that, with an unexampled liberality, she had herself proposed by- 
excluding slavery from it, to secure it for the emigration of those States which had no 
slaves. Was it proper, then, when her reserved territory, was in a great measure filled 
up, to exclude her citizens from every part of the territory purchased out of the common 
fund ? / was the first person to introduce into Congress the proposition that all the 
country above Missouri, (which, having no inhabitants, was free from the objection 
made to Missouri and Arkansas,) should never have slavery admitted into it. I re- 
peat what I have before said, that as our Union was only effected by mutual concession, 
so only can it be preserved. 

" My vote against the restriction of Missouri, in forming her Constitution was not a 
conclusive one. There would have been time enough, had I continued to be a mem- 
ber, before the question was decided, for my constituents to have instructed me ; and I 
should have rejoiced in any opportunity of sacrificing my seat to my principles, if 
they had instructed me in opposition to my construction of the Constitution. Like ma- 
ny other members from non-slaveholding States, among whom I mention Shaw, Holmes, 
Mason of Massachusetts, Lanman of Connecticut, and Baldwin of Pennsylvania, I 
could see nothing in the constitution which I had sworn to support, to warrant such an 
interference with the rights of the States, and which had never before been attempted? 
And where is the crime in one set of men not being able to interpret the constitution as 
other men interpret it? As we had all sworn to support it, the crime would have been 
in giving it a construction which our consciences would not sanction. And let me ask, 
for what good is this question again brought up ? It has been settled, as ail our family- 
differences have been settled, on the firm ba?is of mutual compromise. And patriotism, 
as well as prudence, devoted the effects of that awful discussion to eternal oblivion. 
Is it not known that, from that cause, the great fabric of our Union was shaken to its 
foundation? Is it not known that Missouri would not have submitted to the restriction 
and that the other slave-holding States had determined to support her? But for this 
compromise, the probability is, that at this moment we might look oa the opposite shore 
of Ohio, not for an afiectioiiate sister State, but an armed and implacable rival. What 
patriotic man would not join the gallant Eaton, in execrating the head and the hand, 
that could devise and execute a scheme productive of a caiumny so awful? 

'' Upon the whole, fellovv^ citizens, our path is a plain one : it is that marked out as well 

by humanity as duty. We cannot emancipate the slaves of the other States without their 

consent, but by producing a convulsion which would undo us all. For this much to be 

desired event,, we must wait the slow but certarn progress of these good principles 

which aie every where gaining ground, and v/hich a5surediy wilil ultimately prevail." 
* * * ^- ■+ * * *. t- * 

*'WM. HENRY HARRISON." 
Thus, fellow citizens, you will see thut, either through ignorance or by design, those 
■who profess a wish to o{>en your eyes to the light, have concealed from you the truth, 
and, although guilty of no positive assertion of falsehood, have, either through igno- 
rance or design, suppressed the truth ; which last, from -y/hateverca'ase, is equally fatal 
to your right understanding of the questions you have to determine, 

I have greatly misunderstood the proud magnanimity of Virginiri.:!.^, if this course, 
obviously calculated to deceive them, and misrepresent orie of their own sons, does not 
ereate in theu very hearts a swelling fountain of that very .sympathy -which it was in- 



24 

tended to destroy. To show how nobly General Harrison, in 1822, sacrificed his seat 
in Congress to his and to your principles, I subjoin the following statement from the 
National Intelligencer, of October 20, 1822, 

" It is confirmed to us that Mr. Gazley is elected in opposition to General Harrison. 
A friend informs los, which we are sorry to learn, that he was opposed particularly 
on account of his adherence to that principle of the Constitution, which secures to 
the people of the South their pre-existing rights y 

I here dismiss the subject, satisfied that neither calumny nor ignorance, can misre- 
present or be deceived as to the opinions of General Harrison on this question. 

So far then, fellow-citizens, as objections are concerned, the political opinions of Gen. 
Harrison are not more obnoxious than those of Mr. Van Buren, which leave them 
both precisely upon the same ground. The next inquiry is, in what are General Har- 
rison's opinions preferable to those of Mr. Van Buren ? I answer by quoting from a 
letter addressed by General Harrison to Harmer Denny, on the 2d of December, 1838, 
the following opinions upon the great question of Executive power, patronage, and 
influence, which constitutes the great issue between the Administration and its oppo- 
nents. He says : 

''Among the principles properly to be adopted by any Executive sincerely desirous 
to restore the Administration to its original simplicity and purity. I deem the follow- 
ing to be of prominent importance : 

" 1. To CONFINE HIS SERVICE TO A SINGLE TERM." 

Is there any republican who can doubt the great value to our institutions and safety 
to our liberty Avhich would result from the establishment of such a precedent. It 
was a favorite principle with all our republican Presidents, and every friend of liberty 
should rejoice at seeing the example set. 

"2. To DISCLAIM ALL RIGHT OF CONTROL OVER THE PUBLIC TREASURE with the excep- 
tion of such part of it as may be appropriated by law to carry on the public service, and 
that to be applied precisely as the law may direct, and drawn from the Treasury agree- 
able to the long established forms of the Department." 

Can any conservative republican fail to perceive that this article contains the very 
gist of the contest between him and the Administration, and that General Harrison's 
opinions are in strict accordance with his own ? Would not this loosening of the 
hold of the Executive upon the public Treasury be an invaluable gain? 

*' 3. That he should never attempt to influence the elections, either by the 
people or the State Legislatures, nor suffer the federal officers under his control to 
take any other part in them than by giving their own votes when they possess the 
right of voting." 

Would not this be an important achievement to the purity of the elective franchise, 
and the efficiency of popular elections? Would it not save the contaminating 'in- 
fluence of official interference Avith the exercise of the most valuable and important 
right of American freemen ? Surely it Avould, if the opinions of your Jeflersons, your 
Madisons, your Taylors, and a host of most eminent and sagacious republican states- 
men are to be relied upon. If you Avish to learn its value, go to the city of New York 
on an election day, and witness with your own eyes five hundred office-holders, re- 
ceiving salaries of upwards of $500,000, collecting and disbursing millions of the pub- 
lic revenue, busily engaged in controlling and directing public opinion ; and that, too, 
by means not the most honorable. 

"4. That, in the exercise of the veto power, he should limit his rejection of bills 
to — 1st. Such as are in his opinion unconstitutional. 2d. Such as tend to encroach on 
the rights of States or individuals. 3d. Such as involving deep interest, may, in his 
opinion, require more mature deliberation or reference to the will of the people, to be 
ascertained at the succeeding elections.'' 

This is a brief but most clear and comprehensive exposition of the design and office 
of the veto power, and is in strict accordance with Mr. Jefferson's views. It mani- 
fests that respect for the legislation of Congress which every Executive ought to 
maintain towards the representative body. It would elevate the legislature to its true 
dignity, and preserve its independence. 



25 

" 5. That he should never suffer the influence of his name to be used for purposes o£ 
a purely party character. 

The magnanimity and value of this sentiment is above all praise, and should be en- 
graved in enduring letters upon the heart of every freeman. How much would it do 
to heal the angry dissensions which now agitate and divide the country, restore tran- 
quility to an excited people, and introduce that system of wise and discreet legislatioa 
so necessary to our welfare ? It is the sentiment of a truly patriotic heart, and one 
which should inscribe the name of its author on the brightest page of the history of 
public benefaction. 

" 6. That in removals from office of those who hold their appointments during the 
pleasure of the Executive, the cause of such removal should be stated, if requested, to 
the Senate, at the time the nomination of a successor is made." 

And last, but not least in importance : 

" That he should not sjiffer the Executive department of the Government to beconie 
the source of legislation, but leave the whole business of making laws for the Unloii^ 
to the department to which the Constitution has exclusively assigned it, until they 
have assumed that perfect shape where and when alone the opinions of the Executive 
may be heard." 

This is a very clear and correct view of the powers and duties of the Executive 
department, and the manner in which it should be administered, and presents a striking 
contrast to Mr. Van Burcn's bold pretension, that the Executive is a component part 
of the Legislative department. 

To him who has deeply and maturely studied the principles upon which our system 
was formed, the very labored and cautious adjustment of power between the three 
great departments of the Government, I may confidently appeal, and inquire whether 
the principles contained in the preceding articles, are not wise, and judicious, and 
most emphatically republican ? The tremendous power, immense patronage, and 
overwhelming influence which the Executive has already acquired, and the great ad- 
ditions which are now most assiduously and perseveringly sought to be made to them, 
is arousing the jealousy, exciting the fears, and prompting the resistance of the great 
mass of our citizens to check and reduce them. In such a struggle these principles 
are all in all, and are of infinitely more value, if possible, than in ordinary times. In 
addition to these sterling principles of republicanism, General Harrison, in his letter to 
Sherrod Williams, avowed his Avish to see every experiment made for the successful 
management of the finances of the nation, before resorting to a national bank. Being 
against a national bank, and against a Sub-treasury, the only experiment which he 
could make, would be to give the State banks a fair trial. If they succeed, then all 
will be satisfied — if not, then some other measure must be resorted to. Is not this the 
very ground upon which the Conservatives have planted themselves ; and would thev 
not in the election of General Harrison, achieve the very principles upon which thev 
abandoned this Administration? Most clearly they would. And will they barter 
away these great advantages — these valuable principles, for some mere abstractional 
differences between them and General Harrison ? I trust they wiU act more Avisely. 
But, above all, will we not signally defeat the Sub-treasury scheme, with all its ap- 
pendant schemes of Executive power and aggrandizement — its system of proscriptioa 
and discipline — enough, of themselves, to immortalize the event in the eyes of the 
Avorld and posterity ? 

In enumerating the reasons why I have abandoned Mr. Van Buren, and the 
party which " supports him," I have said nothing about its utter disregard of the 
cautious provisions of the Constitution, and violation of the laws, perpetrated by the 
House of Representatives, in refusing to permit five of the Representatives from New 
Jersey, who had as high authority as any member upon the floor, whatever may have 
been the true state of the election, to take their seats ; nor to that system of party pro- 
scription which wars upon representative independence, and appropriates the emolu- 
ments of office, as the " .spoiV.?" of j^ar^)/ ricior?/ ; or of that discipline which binds 
the great mass to the lead of a few captains of party. These principles and practices 
have been so often and so fully discussed, and their mischiefs so forcibly pointed out, 
that I need make no remark about them, only that they are fit instruments of faction, 
and Executive ambition ; nor have I stopped to inquire how the '' extreme" of the 
"proclamation," and "nullification," have found a common rallying ground on the 
Sub-treasury system. It is enough for me to know, that there is not a sufficiency of 



26 

republicanism in either to command my support, and I regard the rallying ground more 
anti-republican and dangerous than either or both combined. 

To repel calumny and unjust criticism upon the courage, capacity, and military skill 
of Gen Harrison, I propose to take a short view of "his life, character, and pub- 
lic SERVICES." 

The character, life, and public services of General Harrison, whether as a citizen, a 
statesman, or a soldier, are such as every American, and more especially every Vir- 
ginian, who studies and reflects on the history of his country, with common candor, 
cannot fail to contemplate with pride and pleasure. 

Born and brought up in Virginia, the son of one of her most honored patriots of the 
Revolution, William Henry Harrison entered the service of the United States at an 
early age, under the auspices and friendship of General Washington. He repaired, 
at one of the darkest periods of our annals, to the Northwest, to fight the battles of the 
nation, as an officer of infantry, under the veteran Wayne, against the numerous and 
powerful bands of hostile Indians who had already defeated Harmar and St. Clair. In 
that campaign he early attracted the attention of General Wayne, and became one of 
his aids; as such, he took an active and efficient part in the arduous duties of a fron- 
tier service against the Indians ; received the repeated public commendation of Wayne 
for his merits, as Avell in minor affairs as in the great victory which broke the power 
of the Indians, ended the campaign, and produced the peace of Greenville. He was 
then appointed Secretary of the Northwest Territory, in which office his signal ability 
commended him to the respect and esteem of the people; and he became their Dele- 
gate in the House of Representatives of the United States. Here, young as he was, 
and among men of the highest talents, he eminently distinguished himself during the 
short period he then remained in the House, by originating and carrying through a law 
of the most important character, to wit : the sale of the public lands in small lots, in- 
stead of the old system of disposing of them only in large tracts to speculators ; a 
measure, which, right as it was in itself, and useful to the Government and the coun- 
try, was, above all, to be honored and applauded as an act of equal justtce to the ac 
tual settler, to the poor man, to the many, to all who wish to clear and cultivate the 
land for themselves ; and which, therefore, had a permanent influence over the pros- 
perity of the West. After this he became Governor of the Territory of Indiana, and 
so continued until, in 1812, the war with Great Britain called him into a wider sphere 
of usefulness and fame, as commander of the Northwestern army. Whilst Gover- 
nor of Indiana, he exhibited equal capacity alike for the highest civil and military 
functions. In the former he discharged, most ably and faithfully, all the complicated 
and numerous administrative duties of his office of Governor, for a long series of 
years; in addition to which, as Superintendent of Indian Affairs on that extensive 
frontier, he not only controlled the Indians, and preserved the public peace, in promo- 
ting the welfare of the whites and savages both, but negotiated many most important 
treaties, to the perfect satisfaction of the successive Presidents of the United States, 
under whose instructions he acted. In the latter, when the approach of the war with 
Great Britain seduced the Indians into hostilities, he conducted an expedition against 
the combined tribes banded together by Tecumseh and the Prophet, and gained the 
celebrated victory of Tippecanoe, by means of the union of the qualities of courage, 
prudence, and generalship, which he had acquired and practised under the banners of 
Anthony Wayne. When at length the war of 1812 broke out, the spontaneous confi- 
dence of tho West v/as turned upon him, as the man to lead their patriotic armies to 
the field, to guard and protect the Northwest, to repair the disgrace of Hull's surrender, 
and to chastise the allied British and Indians on the lakes and in Upper Canada. — 
Surrounded as he was by innumerable difficulties in this great enterprise, he yet nobly 
sncceeded, by the aid of the brave militia and volunteers of Kentucky, Ohio, and the 
other States, in repelling the invaders from our soil, sustaining the gallant defence of 
Fort Meigs, and at length pursuing the enemy into Upper Canada, and there gaining 
the brilliant and ever memorable victory of the Thames; recovering Detioit; and con- 
cluding the wax in the Northwest and in Upper Canada. Being returned to Congress 
after the war, first as a member of the House of Representatives, and afterwards of 
the Senate, he there displayed, in his votes, speeches, and legislative measures, the 
high traits of statesmanship, patriotism, and eloquence, which distinguished him in 
his whole career. Finally, as envoy of the United States to the Republic of Colom- 
bia, he finished (for the time being) his diversified services to the Union, to be now 
soon lecailed, as il devoutly hope and trust, to the highest station which it is in the 
power of the people of the United States to bestow. 



27 

I do not propose, on the present occasion — I have neither space nor time — to enter 
into a particular review of the eventful life of General Harrison, nor to examine mi- 
nutely all the details of his public services, his opinions, and his qualifications for the 
Presidency. I entreat you to do this for yourselves, as I have done it ; and I have en- 
tire confidence that the result will satisfy you that his experience of affairs, his emi- 
nence alike in camp and council, his tried patriotism, his unblemished integrity, his 
republican sentiments, his truly American character and life, point him out as the man 
of the crisis, who is to redeem the country from its sufferings and to reform the public 
abuses under which the Government labors. 

That, distinguished as he is, and selected as the candidate of the people for the 
great trust of Chief Magistrate of the Union, he should be assailed by the instru- 
ments of the party in power, and his reputation slandered, was to be expected, how 
much soever it may be the subject of regret to every candid and impartial mind. But 
the character of General Harrison is not one which detraction can attempt to blacken 
with any possibility of success. His fame is part and parcel of the fame of his coun- 
try. His name is identified with the great deeds, and interwoven into the web of the 
mighty events, which do honor to the nation; and it cannot be struck out without de- 
stroying the very fabric of the national honor itself. 

Men who never saw a foughten field have presumed to impeach his courage and 
generalship ; and mere politicians have presumed to depreciate the statesmanship of the 
worthy compeer of the Jeffersons and Madisons, those bright ornaments of Virginia 
and of America. To impeach the courage of General Harrison! Is it not the very- 
climax of absurdity, the last resort of desperate party phrenzy, to call in question the 
bravery of one of the best blood of Virginia's fertile growth of brave hearts ? Is the 
race of Virginia's sons to be thus accused ? Is not only all history of the country to 
be falsified, but the fame of an ancient Commonwealth, and the proverbial character 
of her children, to be systematically degraded to carry out this party warfare in favor 
of the falling cause of Mr. Van Buren ? And against whose person? Why against 
that of the son of Governor Benjamin Harrison ; the protege of General Washing- 
ton ; the pupil in the art of Avar of Anthony Wayne ; the man whose whole life, from 
boyhood up, was passed amid all the hazards of war, or of frontier exposure aad ad- 
venture among the savages of the Northwest ! The man who abandoned in his 
youth all the ease and comforts of a professional career, to .fight the battles of his 
country, under the leadership, and as the right hand, of one of the most daring of the 
generals of the Revolution, and who played his part in those perilous scenes as be- 
came the blood of Virginia. The man who, for twenty years, lived in the heart of 
numerous Indian tribes, to whom he taught respect for the United States by his im- 
partial justice, and whom he compelled to respect himself by his fearlessness, fortitude 
and spirit. The man who withstood and defeated ail the intrigues of the wily Te- 
cumseh; who vanquished th,e bands of the Prophet at Tippecanoe; who led the brave 
men of the W^est against the armies of Britain, through innumerable dangers and 
hardships, in all which he partook with the commonest soldier of his camp; and who 
consummated the whole by capturing the army of Proctor, on the banks of the 
Thames. To impeach the courage of such a man — of one whose life has been such 
as this, would be absurd and ridiculous, at best; but it is monstrous thus to seek, in 
the bitterness of party rancor, to belittle the character of Virginia and of America, by 
vain assaults and manufactured imputations on the character of one of their noblest 
sons. 

Did notthe gallant Kentuckians know v\'hat bravery was? what military prowess 
was ? Were they the men to flock to the standard of Harrison, to demand, to require 
him of the Government, as their leader to battle ? and yet he the man to win, to re- 
ceive, and to retain their devoted respect and attachment through so many battles and 
victories of the Northwest — he to be now made the object of such miserable detrac- 
tion? 

And the generalship of William Henry Harrison, that also is to be called in ques- 
tion at this late day. It is quite easy to cavil at the arrangements of a campaign, and 
ihe evolutions of a field of battle. Any carpet-night can do that. There never was 
a campaign conducted, never a baltk fought, however successful in the results, that 
scwQcbody, m the blindness of over-v/isdom, might not be found to criticke. 

" Nor might nor grcidness ira mortality 

Can censure '&cape : back-wot'»*dingcaI«ijn'ny 

The Joftieat -virtivo Btrike*." 



28 

But the common-sense of the world tells us that victory is the best proof the gene- 
ralship which produces it. That cannot be cavilled away. There is the hill-side 
battle-field of Tippecanoe, with its bright laurels yet fresh in the memories of the 
living generation, to speak to the honor of the conqueror; there is the ground of 
Camp Meigs, to commemorate the fame of its brave defender ; there is the plain of 
the Moravian Towns, in the heart of Upper Canada, to testify in all future time to the 
glory of the commander, who redeemed, in the battle of the Thames, the honor of the 
American standard, by the capture of the British army, the final defeat and dispersion 
of the Indians, and the complete pacification of the Northwest. In a word, to en- 
deavor, at this day, to rail ofl' the seal of honor from the name of that general who, it 
was well said by the present Vice President of the United States, was, during the 
late war, longer in active service than any other, was perhaps oftencr in action thaa 
any other, and who never sustained a defeat — to try to depreciate him is. like the en- 
vious viper of the fable, to expend the venom in gnawing at a file. 

In this brief address, I cannot, as I have already said, go over the discussion of the 
details of the military events of General Harrison's life. Nor is it necessary. The 
people of the United States have, through the unanimous voice of Congress, and after 
full discussion, and a hearing of all the petty cavils that are now raked up against 
General Harrison's campaigns out of the mouldered ashes of the extinguished calum- 
nies of the past — the American people, I say, have tried, passed judgment upon, and 
settled the matter. On the 30th of March, 1818, the two Houses of Congress 
adopted, without a division, the following resolution, which was approved by Presi- 
dent Monroe, on the 4th of April, and is to be found in the published volumes of the 
acts of Congress, namely: 

Resolution directing medals to be struck, and, together with ^he thanks of Congress, 
presented to Major General Harrison and Governor Shelby, and for other purposes. 

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of 
America in Congress assembled, That the thanks of Congress be, and they are 
hereby, presented to Major General William Henry Harrison and Isaac Shelby, late 
Governor of Kentucky, and through them, to the officers and men under their com- 
mand, for their gallantry and good conduct in defeating the combined British and In- 
dian forces under Major General Proctor, on the Thames, in Upper Canada, on the 
fifth of October, one thousand eight hundred and thirteen, capturing the British army, 
Avith their baggage, camp equippage, and artillery; and that the President of the Uni- 
ted States be requested to cause two gold medals to be struck, emblematical of his 
triumph, and presented to General Harrison and I?aac Shelby, late Governor of 

Kentuckv. 

H. CLAY, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
JOHN GAILLARD, 
President of the Senate, pro. tem. 
April. I, 1S18.— Approved: JAMES MONROE. 

This, I repeat, is the final judgment of Congress, and of the nation upon the 
whole matter. It is as idle and uncandid to undertake to impeach this judgment now, 
by one-sided publications of the facts or discussions that preceded the judgment, as 
it would be to rip up the one-sided evidence of any other judgment of the tribunal 
which had tried and settled a cause before it. 

Nor, if this were a thing just and fair to be done, is there any thing in those facts 
or discussions, otherwise than in the liighest degree honorable to General Harrison. 
When- it was proposed to bestow on him and his gallant army, the well-earned thanks 
of the nation, he was made the object of envious and groundless charges in the Se- 
nate ; as who that is a conspicuous mark, and whose life is an eventful one, may not 
be accused ? The action of the Senate was suspended to investigate those charges? 
They were investigated. And we have the unanimous vote of thanks^ of Congress, 
to prove that the charges were false ; we have the unanimous report ot a committee 
of the House of Representatives, of which Richard M. Johnson was chairman, to 
prove that what of charge was committed to them to examine was utterly false ; and 
that General Harrison, in his whole conduct as conwiander, was "governed by a 
laudable zeal for, and devotion to, the public service ;" we have the unanimous vote 
of the House upon that report to affirm and perpetuate its effect ; we have the speeches 
of Mahlon Dickerson of New Jersey, of James Barbour of Virginia, and John W. 



29 

Hulbert of Massachusetts, to proclaim and declare, in the public presence, name, and 
behalf of either House of Congress, that every thing, great and small, which had 
been charged or insinuated against him, in impeachment of his title to the unanimous 
thanks of Congress, was utterly false ; and we have the declaration of Thomas 
Ritchie, made at the time, in view of the whole case, testifying in the name of public 
opinion and the public press, that "the envious cloud which had gathered around the 
head of Harrison, was now finally and forever dispersed." Is there a Virginian 
living, so heated and blindedbyparty zeal, as to imagine he can reverse that judgment? 
Is there one so ungenerous, so uncandid, so unjust to that fame of our great men which 
is the common property and common good of all of us, that he would desire to re- 
verse it? I will not believe, if there be any such, that they will receive approbation or 
concurrence from the generous minded spirit, which I am proud to think characterizes 
my native Commonwealth. 

Of the statesmanship of General Harrison, as developed during his long service as 
Governor of Indiana Territory, and Superintendent of the Indians of the Northwest, 
as a Delegate in Congress from the Northwestern Territory, as a Representative in 
Congress from Ohio, as a Senator in Congress, I have no room to speak at length. I 
pray you to read his published speeches and official addresses, and to then enter into 
the patriotic impulses, and the enlarged wisdom, which mark the man; and I confi- 
dently believe you will conclude with me that, as well by his services in the field as in 
the council, he is approved to be a true disciple of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, 
and Monroe, names of honor to Virginia, and worthy to add another to the roll of great 
men whom she has sent from her bosom to preside over the destinies of America. 

1 am well aware, fellow-citizens, that my former opposition to General Harrison, 
and some disparaging remarks which I have made about his capacity and fitness for 
the Presidency, have been, and will be again brought up in judgment against me, with 
a view to convict me of inconsistency. Misled by the vile slanders which were per- 
petrated upon General Harrison ; deceived by those calumnies which floated in masses 
through the filthy columns of a party press, and ignorant alike of General Harrison, 
his true character, and his distinguished pubhc services, I did give utterance, in the 
ardent zeal of strong party feeling, to sentiments, in relation to General Harrison, un- 
just to him, and unworthy of myself. But with the light of truth, with the recorded 
evidence before me, that I erred, I feel that, as a man of honor, I can do nothing less 
than retract what I have improperly and ignorantly said, and leave the malignant, the 
vindictive, and the fiery partisan to make the most of it. I am proud, fellow-citizens, 
that I have lived to see the day Avhen I can do this act of justice to an injured man ; 
and that among the cloud of missiles which malignity and envy have hurled at that 
distinguished patriot and statesman, the little arrow which I sped may be arrested in 
its'flight, and fall harmless at his feet. Much more honorable is it to retract unjust 
imputation, than to slander and defame him who had been the subject of the highest 
eulogy. I utterly disregard all that has been or may be said against me on this ac- 
count, and leave my accusers to revel at their pleasure in the venomous slime of their 
own vindictive and mahgnant feelings. 

In the course of my political experience, fellow-citizens, I have never been able to 
learn the modern " sink or swim" system of opposing unwise and dangerous princi- 
ples and measures, by electing to the councils of the nation their friends and advocates. 
i cannot, for my life, perceive how bad measures can be successfully resisted by talk- 
ing against them and voting for them. This theory is so sublime, and the reasons by 
which it is supported so subtle, that they are beyond my comprehension. So much so, 
that I am impracticable to the teachings of the distinguished professor of the school of 
pohtical casuistry and jugglery at Richmond, and most respectfully decline discipleship 
to his system. 

I now, fellow-citizens, close this communication, and avow that, whatever of weal 
or wo may come out of it, I will oppose, with all the energy I am master of, the re- 
election of Martin Van Buren, and support that of William Henry Harrison. In this 
contest I am exercising my rights of citizenship — performing the duties of a freeman, 
and I shall not be deterred from their faithful execution by any denunciation which 
Executive wrath can pour upon me, any epithet which party intolerance can apply, any 
slander or defamation which a vulgar, brutal, and licentious party press can bestow. 
With a consciousness of the rectitude of my motives, and the justice of the cause in 
which I am engaged, I enter the contest boldly and fearlessly, relying upon the justice 
of Heaven, and the virtue and intelligence of that unterrified constituency of which I 



on 

oartY denunciation. Fellow ci ^^'^ ■ nn'mv own conscience, or a 

Tount ■ "he^lo will, mW S" f»' ^'^ P^"^' Your obeaien. servant,^ GARLAND. 
Washinoton, April 18, tS40. 



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